The Ivy League Tops NCAA Graduation Success Rate for Second-Straight Year

NCAA Release | NCAA Graduation Success Rate Searchable Database

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 2005 combining for an average of 97.9 percent across its eight institutions, according to the most recent NCAA figures.

The Ancient Eight led all Division I conferences for a second-straight year with Dartmouth leading the way with a GSR of 99.7. Brown was a close second with a GSR of 99.3, followed by Columbia (98.5), Harvard (98.3), Yale (97.1), Cornell (97.0), Princeton (96.7) and Penn (96.4).

The Ivy League is included in the GSR data for the second-consecutive year. 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 GSR for the last four graduating classes of all Division I student-athletes (2002-2005) remains at 80 percent, still an all-time high for the NCAA, according to NCAA President Mark Emmert. The most recent one-year GSR for the 2005 class is 81 percent, down one point from last year. Most other sports remained steady or were down slightly in year-to-year comparisons.

The overall GSR for the 2005 entering class is seven points higher than the 1995 entering class.

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 federal graduation rate, while less inclusive than the GSR, provides the only measure of historic academic comparison between student-athletes and the general student body. By this standard, student-athletes consistently outperform nearly all their peers in the student body.

The latest data show that Division I student-athletes who entered college in 2005 equaled their highest federal graduation rate of 65 percent – two percentage points higher than the general student body at Division I institutions.

Every student-athlete group is graduating at rates higher than their peers except for white males, who are one point behind their counterparts in the student body under the federal rate.