Student-Athletes Continue Graduation Success

The NCAA released the latest Division I graduation rate data, including the division's Graduation Success Rate (GSR), which held good news for Manhattan College.

Manhattan College produced a 97 percent GSR for the cohort with 10 programs attaining a perfect 100 GSR.

Those sports are: baseball, men's basketball, women's basketball, women's cross country and track & field, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, softball, men's swimming & diving, women's swimming & diving and volleyball.

The national GSR for the entering class of 2011 increased one point to 88 percent.

The Division I Board of Directors created GSR in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate. The federal rate counts any student who leaves a school as an academic failure, no matter whether he or she enrolls at another school. Also, the federal rate does not recognize students who enter school as transfer students.

The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere. This calculation makes it a more complete and accurate look at student-athlete success. The federal graduation rate, however, remains the only measure to compare student-athletes with the general student body.