Birmingham, Ala. - According to a study released this week by the College Sport Research Institute at UNC-Chapel Hill, the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) is the only NCAA Division I conference with a positive Adjusted Graduation Gap (AGG) for football players across the country.

The study compares graduation percentages for football players to that of the full-time male student population at respective schools. On average, football players across Division I graduate (54.5) at a 13.9 percent deficit to that of the total male population (68.4).

In the SWAC, however, football student-athletes graduate six percentage points higher than the male population at the 10 member institutions. None of the other 22 NCAA Division I conferences had a score on the plus side of the ledger.

For instance, the Pac-10 was -30.0 percentage points, which was the worst deficit of any conference. Other conferences percentage differences of note were:  SEC (-18), C-USA (-15), Big Ten (-22.5), Big 12 (-16), Sun Belt (-15), Big East (-9), MAC (-8).

In speaking of the overall results of the study, co-author and UNC professor, Richard Southall said, "It just shows that football players' existence is not the same as a regular student." He adds that the physical, emotional and time demands placed on football players may help explain why they often graduate at lower rates than male students who don't play football. "The fact of the matter is, they're athlete-students, instead of student-athletes," he says.

SWAC Commissioner Duer Sharp credited the league's members with not losing sight of the overall mission of the institutions to educate first and foremost. "What these data show me relating to educating and graduating our football student-athletes are that the SWAC is ahead of the curve in setting priorities and proper focus. I applaud the efforts of our member institutions to keep those standards high."