Graduation rates for student-athletes competing in Division I continue to reach all-time highs.

According to the latest NCAA Graduation Success Rate data, 79 percent of Division I freshmen student-athletes who entered college in 2002 earned their degrees, matching last year’s rate. The average Graduation Success Rate for the last four graduating classes is 79 percent, one percentage point higher than last year.

Both rates are the highest ever for Division I student-athletes, said NCAA Interim President Jim Isch.   

“Be assured—the NCAA’s commitment to academics is as strong as it has ever been,” Isch said. “Having been on three major campuses before coming to the NCAA 10 years ago, I know how critical academic success is to the future of intercollegiate athletics and for the student-athletes who participate.”

Under the federal government’s methodology, which does not count transfer students, Division I student-athletes who entered college in 2002 graduated at 64 percent, the highest federal rate ever and unchanged from last year. This rate is two points higher than the general student body. 

Isch emphasized he was particularly pleased with the academic progress in men’s basketball and baseball. The Graduation Success Rate for men’s basketball is up nearly 10 points and baseball is up nearly 5 points in the eight years the NCAA has calculated the rate.

Isch noted a “modest concern” with football, a sport in which the yearly rate has declined slightly. However, the rate is up nearly three points in the Football Bowl Subdivision since 1995.

Walter Harrison, chair of the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance and president of the University of Hartford, praised the latest figures, citing increased initial-eligibility standards and the overall transformation of the academic-athletics culture on college campuses nationwide.

“Athletics directors and presidents are routinely discussing academics—more so than ever before,” said Harrison. “At the ground level of academic reform on our campuses, there has been monumental change.”

The calculations for the GSR and federal rate both limit time to graduation from initial college enrollment to six years.

Key findings from the graduation-rate data include the following:

Overall Findings

• GSR for entering class of 2002: 79 percent
• GSR for entering classes of 1992-2002: 79 percent
• 1999-2002 GSR for male student-athletes: 72 percent
• 1999-2002 GSR for female student-athletes: 88 percent
• Federal graduation rate for student-athletes who started college in 2002: 64 percent
• Federal graduation rate for general students who started college in 2002: 62 percent

Men’s Basketball

• GSR for entering class of 2002: 66 percent
• GSR for entering classes of 1999-2002: 64 percent
• Federal graduation rate for 2002 entering class: 51 percent

Women’s Basketball

• GSR for entering class of 2002: 83 percent
• GSR for entering classes of 1999-2002: 83 percent
• Federal graduation rate for 2002 entering class: 64 percent

Baseball

• GSR for entering class of 2002: 70 percent
• GSR for entering classes of 1999-2002: 69 percent
• Federal graduation rate for 2002 entering class: 49 percent

Football Bowl Subdivision

• GSR for entering class of 2002: 66 percent
• GSR for entering classes of 1999-2002: 67 percent
• Federal graduation rate for 2002 entering class: 55 percent

The NCAA developed the Graduation Success Rate as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The rate holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The Graduation Success Rate also accounts for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport.

Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing.  The outgoing transfers are essentially passed to the receiving institution’s Graduation Success Rate cohort.

By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the Graduation Success Rate increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by more than 37 percent. The NCAA also calculates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes. It is the only rate by which to compare student-athletes to the general student body.

The most recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering freshmen classes from 1999-2000 through 2002-03. More than 102,000 student-athletes are included in the most recent four classes using the GSR methodology, as compared to slightly fewer than 75,000 counted in the federal rate.

This year marks the eighth year that Graduation Success Rate data have been collected. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995. The latest entering class for which data are available is 2002.

The NCAA also has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division’s Academic Success Rate. This is the fourth year the NCAA has released the Division II rate, which is similar to the Division I Graduation Success Rate and also includes student-athletes not receiving athletically related financial aid.

The latest figures show a 71 percent Academic Success Rate for the Division II entering class of 2002. Even when using the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes is 55 percent, nine percentage points higher than the overall student body at Division II colleges and universities.

Many Division III student-athletes are not covered by the federal graduation rate methodology, because it only includes student-athletes who receive athletics financial aid.  Therefore, the data for Division III are used to analyze success rates within the student bodies.  In all, students who entered those institutions in the fall of 2002 showed a federal graduation rate of 64 percent, while the latest four-year average is 63 percent.

In April, the Division III Presidents Council approved exploring the possibility of calculating graduation rate and academic-success rates for Division III student-athletes. The pilot program will be conducted using graduation-rate data collected from volunteering institutions in spring 2010.