Oct. 14, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - The Atlantic 10 boasts 75 teams with a perfect graduation rate according to the NCAA Graduation Success Report on Division I student-athletes, released today. George Washington leads the Conference with ten teams that hold a rating of 100 percent, which includes every one of the program's women's sports. Dayton was second among A-10 programs with nine teams earning a perfect score and Saint Louis third with eight.

Nationwide, the most recent GSR data shows that 79 percent of freshmen student-athletes who entered college in 2001 earned their four-year degrees. The average Graduation Success Rate for the last four graduating classes is 78 percent. Both rates are up one percentage point from last year.

NCAA President Myles Brand praised the latest figures, citing increased initial-eligibility standards and an overall emphasis on academics, including the development of the Academic Progress Rate for each Division I sports team, as key factors contributing to student-athlete success.

"Nearly eight out of 10 Division I student-athletes are finishing college and earning their degrees. This is extremely good news," Brand said. "We still have work to do and can't declare victory just yet, but the trend lines are moving in the right direction."

Brand said approximately 4,000 additional student-athletes graduated from Division I colleges over the past six years because of increased graduation rates. Another 7,000 additional student-athletes who started college between 1996 and 2001 earned degrees because of increased enrollment and growth in Division I membership.

Other NCAA research has shown that nearly 90 percent of student-athletes had earned their college degree 10 years after starting college. The calculations for the GSR and federal rate both limit time to graduation to six years from initial collegiate enrollment.

"The ultimate success is in the changed lives of student-athletes," Brand said. "The so-called `dumb jock' myth is just that--a myth."

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

Under the GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are essentially passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort.

By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the GSR 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, because it is the only rate by which to compare student-athletes to the general student body.

The most recent Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering freshmen classes in Division I from 1998-99 through 2001-02. There are almost 100,000 student-athletes included in the most recent four classes using the GSR methodology, as compared to just over 72,000 counted in the federal rate. This year marks the seventh year that GSR 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 2001.