Kent State University student-athletes continue to succeed in the classroom, according to statistics for the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) released on Nov. 4 by the NCAA.
Developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative, the GSR is used to assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students transferring into the institutions. The GSR also allows schools to subtract student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.
"Every year, Kent State student-athletes are reaching new heights in the classroom,” says Greg Glaus, Kent State’s associate athletic director. “The graduation rates reported this year reflect the exceptional support from the university and the athletic department. Our Student-Athlete Academic Services staff also deserve a special recognition for their continued investment in our student-athletes’ academic success.”
Thirteen out of 14 Kent State GSR reporting sports either maintained or improved their GSR rate from 2013-14, and the overall student-athlete GSR improved from 78 percent to 83 percent. Also, five Kent State athletic teams (men's golf, field hockey, women's golf, women's gymnastics and volleyball) boasted a perfect 100 GSR rate. Kent State student-athletes' federal graduation rate was 83 percent as compared to 55 percent for the general student body.
The Graduation Success Rate was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately measure the success of Division I student-athletes.
- The GSR takes into account the many different academic paths followed by today's college students.
- Unlike the federal graduation rate, the GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport.
- By counting incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees, the GSR increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by approximately 37 percent.
- Under the GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are essentially passed to the receiving institution's GSR cohort.
- The NCAA also calculates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes because it is the only rate to compare student-athletes to the general student body.
- This year marks the 14th year of GSR data that has been collected. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995. The latest entering class for which data is available is 2008.