Only 48 percent of the scholarship freshman football players who entered the University of Virginia in the fall of 1999 graduated from UVa within six years, according to the latest NCAA report.

At Virginia Tech, 53 percent of the scholarship freshman football players and none of the scholarship freshman men's basketball players who entered in the fall of 1999 graduated from Tech within six years.

The report was released Thursday.

The UVa football rate of 48 percent included a rate of 38 percent for the black players. Virginia athletic director Craig Littlepage could not be reached for comment.

The national rate for Division I-A freshman football players entering in 1999 was 55 percent.

The UVa rate for freshman football players entering in 1998 was 43 percent. The four-class rate for UVa freshman football players entering from 1996-99 was 60 percent.

The Tech football rate of 53 percent was not as good as in the previous two reports. The rate for Tech scholarship freshman football players entering in 1997 was 67 percent; that was also the percent for those players entering in 1998.

"When I look and see we were 67 percent for the previous two years ... I view this then as a little bit of an anomaly as opposed to it being something that should alarm us," Tech associate athletic director Jon Jaudon said.

This was the third straight report in which the federal graduation rate for Tech men's basketball players was 0 percent.

The three scholarship freshman men's players who entered in 1999 -- Tony Dobbins, Brian Felts and Jon Smith -- wound up transferring. That had also been the case for the two who entered in 1998, Dennis Mims and Rodrigo Viegas, and for the four who entered in 1997 -- Jenis Grindstaff, Kenny Harrell, Clinton McPherson and Rolan Roberts.

The graduation rates for athletes at Virginia Tech and Virginia were not as high as the overall student body rates at those schools.

At Virginia Tech, 63 percent of the 75 scholarship freshman athletes who entered in the fall of 1999 graduated within six years. That compared with 76 percent of the college's overall freshman class entering that year.

The 63 percent wasn't as good as the rate for Tech scholarship freshman athletes in last year's report. Seventy-four percent of Tech freshman athletes who entered in the fall of 1998 graduated within six years, the same rate as the overall Tech freshman class.

Jaudon said it is his department's goal to have the athletes' rate match the college's overall rate.

"We were there last year," Jaudon said. "We're pushing to do that on a consistent basis. But when you're dealing with a [group] of 75, one transfer, one this, one that, is a major blow, as opposed to that same type of thing happening on campus."

Tech's rate of 63 percent for athletes was the same as the rate for Division I athletes nationwide. The rate for overall freshman students entering Division I schools in 1999 was 61 percent.

The four-class rate for Tech scholarship freshman athletes entering from 1996-99 was 68 percent.

At Virginia, 74 percent of the 107 scholarship freshman athletes who entered in the fall of 1999 graduated within six years, compared with 93 percent of UVa's overall freshman class entering that year.

The four-class federal rate for UVa freshman athletes entering from 1996-99 was 78 percent.

Those numbers were the federal government's way of calculating graduation rates. When the NCAA's new formula, the Graduation Success Rate, was used, Tech and UVa fared better.

With the GSR, it doesn't count against a school's graduation rate when an athlete in good academic standing transfers elsewhere. And the GSR credits schools' rates when athletes who transfer to their campuses wind up graduating.

Tech had a GSR of 82 percent for athletes entering in 1999. The GSR for Tech football players was 74 percent. The GSR for Tech men's basketball players was 71 percent.

UVa had a GSR of 84 percent for athletes entering in 1999. The GSR for UVa football players was 63 percent.

At Radford, the federal rate for the 47 freshman scholarship athletes entering in 1999 was 53 percent, two percentage points better than the college's overall freshman class. The rate for Radford men's basketball was zero.

"It's difficult to make any assessments in one year. You need to look at those over a period of years," Radford athletic director Greig Denny said.

Radford's four-class federal rate for freshman athletes was 62 percent.

The GSR for Radford athletes entering in 1999 was 91 percent, including 82 percent for men's basketball.

At VMI, the federal rate for the 41 freshman scholarship athletes entering in 1999 was the same percentage (66) as that of the overall VMI freshman class. The GSR was 68 percent.

The Associated Press reported that Duke led all Division I schools with a federal graduation rate of 91 percent for freshman athletes entering in 1999. Boston College, Bucknell and Northwestern were at 90 percent. The lowest rate was at Florida A&M (19 percent).