The NCAA may not have passed Proposition 24 so quickly if Senator Bill Bradley (D-N.J.) had not placed so much congressional pressure on it, said NCAA Faculty Representative John Coyle.

The NCAA would ideally have liked to study this data for another year or two before taking action, Coyle said, but it did not want Congress to legislate its recruitment rules. Because of this, the NCAA passed Proposition 24 at its January convention.

Greg McCarthy, assistant press secretary for Bradley, said the senator will still push for congressional legislation despite the passing of Prop 24 because many schools aren't under the regulation of the NCAA.

McCarthy said that the graduation rate statistics would be broken down in terms of race, sex and degree received, and compiled by the secretary of education in a book. The figures would be based only on scholarship athletes who graduate within a five-year period.

"He (Bradley) is active in conducting seminars for New Jersey high school student athletes. The thrust is that sports are a great way to develop oneself, but only one in 10,000 is going to play sports (after graduation). You have to prepare yourself for this and (this bill) gives the student a better opportunity to decide (which school is interested in educating him)," McCarthy said.

Another possibility the NCAA considered to encourage schools to increase their graduation rates was reducing the availability of scholarship money, Coyle said.