 UE Leads MVC In Graduation Success Rate
(Aces Pace The League For 5th Consecutive Season)
EVANSVILLE, Ind. – With a score of 97, the University of Evansville once again paced the Missouri Valley Conference in Graduation Success Rate (GSR) as the NCAA released its most recent report. This marks the 5th year in a row that the Purple Aces have recorded or tied for the top score in the league.
Evansville’s score marked the best among all current MVC schools who competed in the league during the period of time that was measured by the NCAA. The NCAA GSR report gives graduation information for students and student-athletes who entered college in 2015, the most recent class for which the required six years of information is available. It also breaks down the GSR by sport, using a four-year class average (2012-2015) called a cohort rate to provide a big enough sample.
“I am so proud of our coaches and student-athletes for this accomplishment. Academics are at the forefront of being a student-athlete at the University of Evansville and this recognition shows the commitment that we have towards that goal,†UE Athletics Director Dr. Kenneth “Ziggy†Siegfried stated.
Perfect scores of 100 were achieved by multiple Purple Aces programs including men’s basketball, men’s and women’s cross country/track and field, men’s and women’s golf, women’s soccer, women’s swimming and diving, and volleyball. Beginning in the Spring 2020, a portion of Division I revenue was distributed to member schools based on the academic achievement of student-athletes. The model allows schools with higher graduation rates and academic success to qualify for more funds.
“This is accomplished with the commitment of our coaches recruiting high quality student-athletes and our University’s team effort in supporting our student-athletes in their pursuit of academic excellence,” UE Senior Associate AD for Internal Operations Sarah Solinsky exclaimed. “We are quite proud of this achievement sitting atop the MVC for a fifth consecutive year.”
THE CRITERIA
A school earns an academic unit by meeting any ONE of the three standards.
- The graduation Success Rate for the most recently available year is equal to or greater than 90 percent. The average of single-year rates for all teams is used.
- The difference between student-athlete and student-body percentages in the most recently published Federal Graduation Rate is equal to or greater than 13 percentage points.
- Academic Progress Rate for the previous year is equal to or greater than 985. The average of single-year scores for all teams is used to determine eligibility for this standard.
NCAA GSR INFORMATION
All colleges and universities are required by NCAA legislation and federal law (the Student Right-to-Know act from 1990) to report student graduation rates, and those institutions offering athletics aid are required to report for their student-athletes as well. The NCAA acquires student-athlete graduation rate data from the Department of Education’s Integrated Post-Secondary Data System Graduation Rate Survey (IPEDS-GRS).
The student-athlete graduation rate calculated directly based on IPEDS-GRS (which is the methodology the U.S. Department of Education requires) is the proportion of first-year, full-time student-athletes who entered a school on athletics aid and graduated from that institution within six years. This federal rate does not account for students who transfer from their original institution and graduate elsewhere; they are considered non-graduates at both the college they left and the one from which they eventually graduate.
The NCAA GSR differs from the federal calculation in two important ways. First, the GSR holds colleges accountable for those student-athletes who transfer into their school. Second, the GSR does not penalize colleges whose student-athletes transfer in good academic standing. Essentially, those student-athletes are moved into another college’s cohort.
