Oct. 25, 2012

Duquesne University student-athletes posted a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 88 percent - eight percentage points above the national average - according to NCAA data released today.

The latest GSR report, which is based on the four entering freshmen classes in Division I from 2002-2003 through 2005-06, shows that 14 of DU's 16 varsity sports posted a GSR at or above the national average for their sport.

The Graduation Success Rate was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative as a better measure of student-athlete academic success.

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 38 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 incorporates the federal graduation rate for student-athletes, because it is the only rate to compare student-athletes to the general student body.

Duquesne's student-athlete graduation rate for the 2005-06 cohort - the most recent available - was 80 percent, compared to 73 percent for the general student body reflecting a continuing trend throughout college athletics.

There are more than 110,000 student-athletes included in the most recent four classes using the GSR methodology, as compared to about 79,500 in the federal rate.

This year marks the 11th year of GSR data that have been collected. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995. The latest entering class for which data are available is 2005.