• NCAA Press Release on GSR
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – In the most recent release of Graduation Success Rates (GSR) by the NCAA, Ohio Valley Conference teams continue to show success.
The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in 2002 in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students beyond what the federal graduation rate measures. The federal rate counts as an academic failure any student who leaves a school, even if the student enrolls at another school. Also, the federal rate does not recognize students who enter school as transfer students.
The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere. This calculation provides a more accurate appraisal of student-athlete success.
The figures released this year are for student-athletes who entered college in 2015. Nationally the GSR was at 90 percent which is the highest rate ever recorded.
The OVC's total GSR was 87 percent. That was the same as the previous year, which was the highest in the past six years. The GSR is 26 percent higher than the Federal Rate.
In the sport of men's basketball, the OVC jumped from 74 to 91 percent, which ranked tied for sixth among all conferences.
Among ranking fifth overall last year at 97 percent, the women's basketball GSR came in at 94 percent.
Baseball had its highest-rank in the past five years, coming in at 96 percent, which was tied for fourth among all conferences, and up eight percent from last year.
Football came in at 76 percent, which was five percent higher than a year ago.