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The UNC Academic Scandal By The Numbers

UNC Athletics faced no penalty after an NCAA investigation into paper courses
Jon Gardiner

The NCAA report released Friday closes a chapter for the University of North Carolina. Here's a look at the three-and-a-half year investigation by the numbers:

  • 18 – Years, beginning in 1993, of the academic scandal
  • 29.4 – Percent of students enrolled in these "paper classes" who were student athletes
  • 4.3 – Athletes as a percent of the entire UNC undergraduate student body
  • $18 million – Legal fees paid by UNC related to the NCAA investigation, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN
  • 3.5 – Years it took for the NCAA investigation
  • 2.3 – Required GPA to remain eligible to play Division 1
  • 70 – Reforms made by UNC "to make certain that the academic irregularities that occurred will not take place again"
  • 1 – Year of academic probation by Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
  • 2 – People blamed by the university for the paper classes: Deborah Crowder, former student services manager in the African and Afro-American Studies (AFRI/AFAM) department, and Dr. Julius Nyang’oro, former professor and chair of the AFRI/AFAM department.
  • $7.2 million – Men's Basketball budget
  • $12.6 million – Football budget
  • 100 – Pages in a responseto NCAA notice of allegations
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Jason deBruyn is WUNC's Supervising Editor for Digital News, a position he took in 2024. He has been in the WUNC newsroom since 2016 as a reporter.
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