Graduation Success Rate for Student-Athletes at 90 Percent

The Rider University department of athletics has a 90 percent Graduation Success Rate, it was announced Tuesday by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

"It was our highest score ever," said Greg Busch, the Rider Associate Athletic Director. "The national average was also an all-time high of 82 percent for institutions."The single-year Graduation Success Rate for student-athletes who began college in 2004 is 82 percent, a new high for the NCAA, three points higher than last year and eight points higher than when GSR collection began a decade ago.

The Graduation Success Rates was developed by the NCAA to more accurately reflect student-athlete graduation rates at Division I institutions.  The GSR includes student-athletes who transfer into the institutions, but does not include those student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation, as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.

"Within the Rider Department of Athletics, the goal of fielding high-level athletic teams is secondary only to the goal of producing student-athletes who graduate on time and who achieve their degrees," Busch said. "Our latest GSR score proves we are achieving this goal, and reaffirms our department's commitment to student-athlete academic success."

"The fact that Rider student-athletes had an approximately 90 percent GSR shows that we are keeping our priorities straight and ensuring that these students are focused on excelling both in the classroom and on the playing field," said Kelly Bidle, Rider's NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative. "We are very proud of, but not surprised by, these numbers."

The NCAA also calculates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes, because it is the only rate to compare student-athletes to the general student body.

"Academic reform is working. Students are better prepared when they enter college, and they are staying on track to earn their degrees," Emmert said. "Some doubted our efforts, but the resolve of our presidents is strong, and we are reaping the fruit of several years of hard work."

Emmert noted that progress is still needed. While the GSRs for men's basketball and football continue to improve over time, they are still the lowest of all sports and have yet to reach 70 percent, he said.

"We cannot become complacent," Emmert said. "Our work is not done."

The most recent Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering freshmen classes in Division I from 2001-2002 through 2004-05. There are nearly 105,000 student-athletes included in the most recent four classes using the GSR methodology, as compared to more than 76,000 in the federal rate.

"Success for student-athletes is ultimately measured by how well they do in the classroom," said Emmert. "There is room for greater progress, and we continue to work hard to that end, but today we celebrate this important milestone."

This year marks the 10th year of GSR data that 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 2004.

Overall Findings for NCAA Division I

• GSR for entering class of 2004: 82 percent

• GSR for entering classes of 2001-2004: 80 percent

• 2001-2004 GSR for male student-athletes: 73 percent

• 2001-2004 GSR for female student-athletes: 88 percent

• Federal graduation rate for student-athletes who started college in 2004: 65 percent

• Federal graduation rate for general students who started college in 2004: 63 percent