NCAA Athlete Education Gap

At some major college universities, people conducted investigations where they found many exceptional college athletes could only read and write at an elementary school level. A specific school that was mentioned was the University of North Carolina. At UNC, Mary Willingham works as a consultant to students who need extra help with their assignments. She acknowledged that the school admitted some players who could not even read or write. She even said she had an athlete come to her and ask her to teach him how to read well enough so he could understand what was being said about him in newspapers. Other colleges that were a part of the investigation stated that some athletes only cared about doing well enough on some exams to remain NCAA eligible. To stay in school, they would often get others to do their work for them. As athletes, the academic expectations are not usually as high compared to regular students. Universities say they are interested in closing the gap, but the process would be very expensive and intensive.