U-M Student-Athlete Graduation Rates Remain Above NCAA Averages
11/4/2014 12:00:00 AM | General
Nov. 4, 2014
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan's student-athlete graduation rates continue to exceed NCAA national averages, according to the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) reports recently released by the NCAA National Office for all NCAA Division I institutions.
The report includes student-athletes on aid entering school between the 2004-05 and 2007-08 academic years and indicates the percentage of those who graduate within six years.
Michigan's four-year rolling average GSR is 88 percent -- equal to its 2013 percentage and an increase of nine percent since 2010. U-M's four-year rolling average FGR has increased two percentage points over the last two years to 78 percent.
In the one-year FGR for the 2007-08 scholarship freshman class, the most recent year with complete data, 79 percent of U-M student-athletes entering in fall 2007 graduated within six years, an increase of three percentage points from last year's report.
The NCAA also released its overall Division I national averages: the four-year GSR is 82 percent and the 2007-08 incoming class FGR is 66 percent, and the four-year cohort FGR is 65 percent.
Nine U-M varsity athletic teams had 100 percent four-year Graduation Success Rates in the 2014 report: men's golf, men's tennis, women's basketball, women's golf, women's gymnastics, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, and water polo.
Since the NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995, the U-M women's tennis and softball teams have posted perfect 100 percent scores in each annual report. Women's golf has had a perfect GSR scores the last seven years.
Both the GSR and FGR are based on the number of student-athletes on athletics aid enrolling in school each year. A number of variables may impact these figures, such as student-athletes who opt for professional or educational opportunities outside of their original institution, and student-athletes in good academic standing who choose to leave school early.
The FGR is mandated by the U.S. Government and reflects the number of scholarship student-athletes who enter an institution in a specific academic year and graduate from that same institution within six academic years. It does not factor in transfer students leaving or entering an institution; the FGR counts transfers simply as non-graduates and therefore is typically lower than the GSR.
The GSR was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately measure the academic success of Division I student-athletes by better accounting for the many different academic paths followed by today's college students. It accounts for students who transfer into an institution and does not penalize institutions that have student-athletes who choose to transfer out while still in good academic standing. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995.
