University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Continues To Lead In NCAA GSR Numbers
10/29/2014 | Academic Services
INDIANAPOLIS -- Richmond Athletics has posted a score of 92 in the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR), posted by the NCAA this week. That score represents a 92 percent graduation rate from the 2004-07 cohort (time period). The Spiders paced the Division I schools in the state of Virginia, with William & Mary posting a 91, Virginia Tech and Radford scoring an 88, Virginia an 86, Longwood 84, James Madison and George Mason 81, Liberty 78 and VCU, VMI and Old Dominion a 76.
Within the Richmond athletics department, seven teams (field hockey, men's and women's golf, women's lacrosse, women's soccer and men's and women's tennis) posted perfect 100 percent rates, with four more (women's basketball, men's and women's cross country/track and the swimming and diving program) achieving a 92 percent rate or higher during that period.
“Our consistency at an academic institution such as Richmond speaks loudly,” said Bruce Matthews Assistant Director of Athletics/Academics. “It all begins with recruiting student-athletes with the right work ethic and support from home. When you couple that support with our university faculty and staff, our student-athletes will be truly successful both inside and outside the University. Our consistency is a reflection what we all do day in and day out over four years to graduate student-athletes who have taken advantage of all that Richmond has to offer.”
According to the statistics release, Atlantic 10 Conference student-athletes graduate at an 89 percent rate. It is the fourth straight year the league has been at 89 percent or better.
Atlantic 10 men's basketball student-athletes graduate at an 86 percent rate, which ranks first among the A-10's peer men's basketball conferences, fourth among all Division I conferences and 12 percent higher than the national average (74 percent).
Atlantic 10 women's basketball student-athletes graduate at a 95 percent rate, a one percent increase over each of the last two years. The A-10 ranks fourth among all Division I Conferences in women's basketball and 10 percent higher than the national average for women's basketball (85 percent).
The A-10 had 90 teams with a perfect 1000 GSR score, a 28-team increase over 2013.
Collectively, the Atlantic 10's GSR is five percentage points higher than the national average of 84 percent. That 84 percent figure is a record for the national average, up two points from 2013's 82 percent.
The NCAA's Graduation Success Rate includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal graduation rate, which does not count transfers. The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from first-time college enrollment.
The GSR ranks the percentage of freshmen that graduate within six years and along with the Academic Progress Rate (APR) is one of the primary tools the NCAA uses to measure academic success among its student-athletes.
