MORAGA, Calif. -- Student-Athletes at Saint Mary's College graduate at the third-highest success rate among all Division I institutions in the state of California, according to figures released recently by the NCAA.
For the second-straight year the organization's Graduation Success Rate data shows that more than one-half of the intercollegiate athletic teams at Saint Mary's have the highest graduation rate among their peers in the West Coast Conference.
"The recent NCAA Graduation Success Rate report continues to show that Saint Mary's student-athletes are achieving tremendous academic success," said SMC athletic director Mark Orr. "Saint Mary's athletes have maintained at least a 90 percent GSR in each of the last five years. That success is reflective of the commitment of the College's coaches, faculty and academic support staff that contributes greatly to the academic experience of our students."
Saint Mary's student-athletes that entered the College in the fall of 2007 graduated a rate of 93 percent according to the GSR, which includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal graduation rate, which does not count transfers. The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from first-time college enrollment.
The SMC baseball, women's basketball, golf, softball, men and women's cross country/track and women's tennis teams each registered the highest GSR among the 10 WCC institutions. All seven of those teams recorded perfect 100 percent rates.
The Saint Mary's men's basketball team was one of seven teams in the WCC to surpass a 90 percent GSR among student-athletes that entered school in the fall of 2007. The national average for men's basketball student-athletes is 72 percent.
Stanford University is the state leader in GSR, graduating 98 percent of its student-athletes in that 2006-07 cohort. The Division I average GSR is 82 percent.
Since the NCAA began tracking GSR with the class of student-athletes who entered in 1995, the overall rate has increased 10 percentage points, which translates to nearly 14,000 more graduates than if the rate had stayed the same. In that same time period, academic standards for Division I student-athletes improved multiple times, with increases in initial eligibility standards, progress-toward-degree standards and the creation of the Academic Progress Rate, a more real-time mechanism to track a student-athlete's academic success.
GSR was created in 1995 in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted a rate that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate.
The GSR formula, intended to be a more complete and accurate look at student-athlete success, removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere. The federal graduation rate, however, remains the only metric that allows comparison between student-athletes and the general student body. Student-athletes who entered college in 2007 earned the highest federal graduation rate ever: 66 percent. That rate is one point higher than the general student-body at Division I schools.
Supporting student-athlete success in the classroom is at the heart of our Association, and today's announcement shows progress toward that goal that is nothing short of remarkable," NCAA President Mark Emmert said. "We are delighted to see a record percentage of student-athletes achieve graduation, the ultimate goal of entering college."
