<p>How does it benefit a college to invest money recruiting and training an athlete who is only going to flunk out after a semester or two? Let’s think about football players, who are the most maligned. They spend weeks on campus practicing before they even set foot in a classroom freshman year and ever summer thereafter, as well as during Thanksgiving and in some cases winter breaks at the school’s expense. Room and board costs alone for those times are pretty pricey, there’s equipment and gear of course, and don’t forget medical expenses for X-rays, MRI’s and the like which they will all need sooner or later. And we haven’t even mentioned scholarship money yet. If this is a profit-motivated business as you assert, you have to assume that any business will only take a certain amount of risk–especially in this age of tight budgets. They are looking for the surest bets they can find.</p>