The Ivy League Leads in Latest NCAA Graduation Success Rates Release

NCAA Release | NCAA Graduation Success Rate Searchable Database
NCAA Research on Graduation Success Rates and Federal Graduation Rates at NCAA Division I Institutions

Portions courtesy of the NCAA

INDIANAPOLIS -- The Ivy League topped the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for Division I student-athletes who began college in 2004 combining for an average of 97.3 percent across its eight institutions, according to the most recent NCAA figures.

Columbia led the way for the Ivies with a perfect GSR of 100 followed by Harvard (99.24), Brown (99.19), Dartmouth (99.19), Yale (96.13), Penn (95.96), Princeton (94.67) and Cornell (94.05).

The Ivy League is included in the GSR data for the first time this year because the NCAA did not collect graduation rate data for student-athletes who were not receiving athletically-related aid until 2004. The six-year graduation rate data for those student-athletes who began college in 2004 is now available so the data now includes the Ivy League.

The single-year GSR for all 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.

NCAA President Mark Emmert said the GSR for the last four graduating classes (2001-04) has hit 80 percent as well, a new high for Division I athletics, and was one point higher than the last four-year average.

The NCAA developed the Graduation Success Rate to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal rate, which does not count transfers.

Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. The outgoing transfers are included in the receiving institution’s GSR cohort. By counting incoming transfer students and mid-year enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by 37 percent.

The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from initial college enrollment. The GSR also accounts for mid-year enrollees and is calculated for every sport.

The most recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering classes from 2001-2002 through 2004-05. Nearly 105,000 student-athletes are included in the most recent four classes using the GSR methodology, as compared to about 76,500 in the federal rate. The NCAA began compiling these figures with the entering freshmen class of 1995.