Collegiate sports have opened many doors for African American males. However, serious involvement in athletics has hampered the development of the group in several areas such as academic and occupational achievement. It has been alleged that universities exploit athletes, especially African American male athletes in football and basketball. This study uses in-depth ethnographic interviews of former Division I student-athletes who are African American in order to examine the extent to which they feel that universities emphasized their education as opposed to their athletic performance and prepared them for careers off the playing field. The former student-athletes expressed feelings of being "used goods" and recount difficulties in choosing a major. (Contains 1 table.)