Garden City, N.Y. - The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR), which held great news for Adelphi University, the Northeast-10 Conference and Division II as a whole. Adelphi, with an overall ASR score of 91, saw nine of its teams garner perfect Academic Success Rates of 100 while 12 had an ASR of at least 90. Additionally, each of the Panther's teams had a significantly higher ASR than the 71 national average.
The ASR calculates the percentage of student-athletes that earn a degree within six years of their initial matriculation in college. 74 different Northeast-10 teams achieved a perfect academic success rate of 100 for their entering classes of 2006, an increase of five over last year's report. The top-30 schools in division II have an overall ASR of 90 or higher and eight of them are from the NE-10. Adelphi's ASR of 91 ranks 23rd in the country and fifth best in the conference.
For Adelphi, golf, men's and women's swimming, bowling, softball, women's soccer, women's tennis, volleyball and women's cross country/track and field all posted perfect academic success rates of 100%.
The national four-year ASR average decreased one point overall to 71 percent, while the entering class of 2006 dropped three points to 69 percent from 2005.
This is the eighth year the NCAA has released the ASR. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students into account and removes students who left the institution in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes.
Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes in the 2006 entering class decreased by one point to 54 percent while the general student body held steady at 48 percent.
At the NCAA Convention in January 2014, the Division II membership will vote on a five-part
legislative package intended to increase student-athlete success and graduation rates. The five proposals in the package address a variety of academic standards, and include adjustments to eligibility standards and progress toward degree requirements.
Click here for a searchable index of institution's Academic Success Rates
