The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has finally taken steps to promote better performances (academic, not athletic) from its student-athletes. As the Associated Press reports, the new “Academic Progress Rate” mandates a 50% graduate in five years rate for all college athletes in all sports.

Schools that fail to meet this standard will lose scholarships for one year when student-athletes who are academically ineligible leave the school. The article also notes that the sports that seem to have the most problems are football (about 30 percent of teams), baseball (25 percent) and men’s basketball (20 percent). Perhaps even more important, there will be penalties for schools that have chronic problems:

Teams that continue to have problems will be subject to the more severe penalties once the “historical penalties” are put into place. Consecutive years of falling below certain academic standards would lead to recruiting and further scholarship restrictions. A third straight year could lead to being banned from preseason or postseason games, and a fourth would affect Division I membership status.

As an educator of student-athletes, I applaud these more stringent standards as a way to reinforce what everybody involved in college sports need to learn: the overwhelming majority of college student-athletes do not end up having a lucrative career in professional sports, and therefore, having a quality education is a critically important ingredient in having a better life.

Just as important, it is the college’s responsibility to ensure that their student-athletes receive the best quality education available.