University Misreporting of Student Metrics : Evidence from the Labor Market for Professional Football Players

The success of universities is increasingly tied to student and program metrics, making the manipulation of such metrics both more prevalent and more consequential. This environment challenges universities’ truth-seeking missions, which are paramount to the value of universities. This paper provides insights into this problem by examining the accuracy of student athlete heights, as reported in university publications. Using a sample of 1,334 student-athletes who participated in the National Football League’s (NFL) Annual Scouting Combine (“the Combine”) between 2018 and 2022, I measure height inflation by comparing the rigorous and independent height measurements taken at the Combine against the heights reported by universities in their media guides. On average, universities report student-athlete heights consistent with customary rounding conventions; however, there is considerable variation in the accuracy of reported student athlete heights, and more than 20 percent of heights are inflated by more than an inch. I find that the accuracy of reported heights is predictable, with universities tending to report inflated heights for student-athletes who are short for their position. Further, I find that universities that regularly send student-athletes to participate in the Combine are less likely to report inflated heights. Evidence also suggests that height inflation is non-trivial to the labor market for professional football players. Specifically, relative to other Combine participants, those with inflated heights are far less likely to be drafted into the NFL. Taken in total, the findings suggest that university misreporting of basic labor-market-relevant facts is widespread and can mislead labor market participants