A new NCAA graduation-rate methodology released for the first time in Division II shows student-athletes graduating at rates significantly higher than those revealed using the federal rate.
The new measurement is Division II’s Academic Success Rate (ASR), a metric similar to the Division I Graduation Success Rate that takes transfer students into account but goes one step further by including student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that the ASR captures more than twice the enrolled student-athletes as the federal rate, largely because of about 8,000 nonscholarship athletes being included in the NCAA calculation.
Using the ASR, Division II student-athletes entering in 1999 graduated at a rate of 69 percent, compared to a 55 percent rate using the federal methodology. Rates by gender showed a similar disparity, as female student-athletes posted a 79 percent ASR (64 percent federal rate) and male student-athletes a 63 percent ASR (49 percent federal rate).
“These data confirm the good news we were only able to speculate before, which is that Division II student-athletes are performing at an even higher level in the classroom than the federal methodology had indicated in the past,” said Pfeiffer University President Charles Ambrose, chair of the Division II Presidents Council. “Also key is that the NCAA research includes nonscholarship student-athletes, which comprise a significant Division II constituency not included in the federal rate. As we suspected, a majority of these student-athletes are obtaining their degrees.”
A sport-by-sport breakdown of the 1999 data reveals that 11 women’s sports and two men’s sports posted ASRs of at least 80 percent. Men’s water polo (95 percent) and field hockey (91 percent) were the highest. The lowest ASRs for men’s sports were in rifle (50 percent), football and basketball (55 percent each). The latter two, however, were still 10 percentage points higher than their respective federal rates. The lowest ASR for women’s sports was bowling at 15 percent.
Division II Academic Success Rates by sport
(1999 entering cohort, with corresponding federal rate)
| Men’s sports | ASR | Federal rate |
| Baseball | 70% | 51% |
| Basketball | 55% | 45% |
| Cross Country/Track | 69% | 57% |
| Fencing | 62% | 33% |
| Football | 55% | 45% |
| Golf | 66% | 52% |
| Gymnastics | 75% | 100% |
| Ice Hockey | 67% | 53% |
| Lacrosse | 71% | 60% |
| Rifle | 50% | 50% |
| Skiing | 75% | 0% |
| Soccer | 68% | 51% |
| Swimming | 76% | 64% |
| Tennis | 76% | 58% |
| Volleyball | 83% | 67% |
| Water Polo | 95% | 100% |
| Wrestling | 60% | 50% |
| Women’s sports | ASR | Federal rate |
| Basketball | 74% | 60% |
| Bowling | 15% | 50% |
| Cross Country/Track | 80% | 63% |
| Fencing | 80% | N/A |
| Field Hockey | 91% | 86% |
| Golf | 83% | 68% |
| Gymnastics | 88% | 64% |
| Ice Hockey | 77% | 75% |
| Lacrosse | 86% | 74% |
| Rifle | 50% | 0% |
| Rowing | 88% | 67% |
| Skiing | 81% | 25% |
| Soccer | 82% | 66% |
| Softball | 78% | 63% |
| Swimming | 86% | 75% |
| Tennis | 78% | 67% |
| Volleyball | 77% | 60% |
| Water Polo | 86% | 56% |
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