Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between an appearance in an NCAA Division I football or basketball national championship game and enrollment. Specifically, the study looked at the relationship between an appearance in either championship game and the number applicants, number of National Merit Scholars, African-American/Black and Caucasian/White enrollment, average high school grade point average of the entering class, total undergraduate and graduate enrollment, and the percentage of out-of-state students enrolled at the institutions. An interrupted time-series design (Glass, 1997) was the primary design used in this study. The largest median percentage increase occurred in the size of the applicant pools at both the football and basketball institutions. Applications at the football institutions increased 15% over a three year period covering the fall before the championship appearance and the two subsequent academic years. Applications increased by 14.6% over the same time period for the basketball schools. The number of National Merit Scholars for the basketball schools increased 8.8 over the same period with all of the increase occurring in the second year following the championship. African American enrollment increased 8.2% (median) over that same period for institutions who appeared in the basketball national championship. Overall enrollment (both undergraduate and graduate) increased at similar rates with a median percentage increase for undergraduate enrollment of 4.6 for the football schools and 4.2 for the basketball schools. The median percentage increase for graduate enrollment was 4.8 at the football schools and 5.4 at the basketball schools. At the football schools, the median percentage increase for out of state students was 6.3% over the three-year period, with no increase at the basketball schools.
