According to the Christian Science Monitor, a new Knight Foundation report  finds ‘that median spending per [college student-athlete] grew by 38 percent between 2005 and 2008 at the big-sport schools of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Football Bowl Subdivision’ while ‘academic spending per student grew 20 percent’.

[The report] calls for reforms designed to rein in the “arms race” of athletics spending and to treat college athletes as students rather than professionals.

Athletes’ academic success has improved in recent years after previous Knight Commission recommendations took hold, such as publicizing graduation rates and tightening eligibility rules. Now, the 22-member commission says, it’s time to raise standards again and change the financial-incentive structure.

Among others, the report recommends that ‘public reports [are required of] individual schools’ athletics spending and revenue, including comparisons of the growth of athletic and academic spending’; and that  ’eligibility for postseason play [be] dependent on teams being on track to graduate at least 50 percent of their athletes’.

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