| A total of 22 Stanford athletics programs compiled graduation rates of 100 percent while none received graduation rates lower than 88 percent, according to the Graduation Success Rate report released by the NCAA on Thursday.
This year's totals reflect a slight improvement from last year, when 19 Cardinal programs (nine men, 10 women) earned graduation rates of 100 percent. The GSR was created seven years ago by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. Unlike the Federal Graduation Rate, the GSR accounts for students who leave an institution while academically eligible as well as adding midyear enrollees to the cohort. The GSR is calculated and reported individually for each NCAA-sponsored sport. Only the Federal Graduation Rates are calculated for both the student population at-large as well as the student-athlete population. Both the GSR and Federal Graduation Rates are based upon classes from 2002-05 and show the percentage of student-athletes earning a degree within six years. The NCAA developed the GSR to account for transfer student-athletes, midyear enrollees and others not tracked by the federal graduation rate. Stanford student-athletes have a Federal Graduation four-class average of 92 percent. The GSR should not be confused with the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, which uses a series of formulas related to student-athletes retention and eligibility to measure the academic performance of all participants who receive grant-in-aid on every team at every NCAA Division I college and university. | |