Academic information about colleges

NCAA student-athletes have graduated at an increasing rate over the last decade, a period in which they also have consistently graduated at a higher rate than the overall student body.

The Division I Graduation Success Rate and the Division II Academic Success Rate were developed in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation data that more accurately reflect the mobility among today’s college students. Both rates improve on the federally mandated graduation rate by including students who were omitted from the federal calculation.

The Graduation Success Rate measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students transferring into the institutions. The Graduation Success Rate also allows institutions to exclude from the calculation student-athletes who leave their institutions before graduation, provided they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained. The most recent study showed a 78 percent Graduation Success Rate.

The Academic Success Rate measures graduation rates at Division II institutions and is similar to the Graduation Success Rate. The difference is that the Division II measure also includes those freshmen who were recruited to the institution but did not receive athletically related financial aid. The most recent study shows an Academic Success Rate of 70 percent among Division II student-athletes.

The NCAA also compiles a graduation report under the requirements of the federal Student Right-to-Know and Campus Security Act of 1990. The federal report shows a lower rate because of the way it treats transfer student-athletes (outgoing transfers count as not having graduated, regardless of outcome; incoming transfers do not count at all). However, the federally mandated study does provide a comparison of  student-athlete graduation rates with those of the overall student body. The most recent study shows that 64 percent of all Division I student-athletes graduated within six years of initial enrollment, compared with 62 percent of the overall student body.

Division I also maintains an Academic Progress Rate for its member institutions. This rate provides a real-time “snapshot” of a team’s academic success each semester by assessing the current academic progress of every student-athlete. The Academic Progress Rate includes eligibility and retention as factors in the calculation and provides a much clearer picture of the current academic culture in each sport.

Last Updated: May 24, 2011