HAMILTON – Colgate University student-athletes earned a 97 percent graduation success rate, once again ranking among the nation's best, according to the latest NCAA reports released on Tuesday.
Overall, Colgate remains a leader among its peers and ranks alongside contemporaries such as Notre Dame, Northeastern, and Vanderbilt. The University was one of 36 institutions with a GSR score of 97 percent or better.
Colgate Vice President and Director of Athletics, Nicki Moore commented on the achievement.
"What a testament this is to the relentless work and perseverance of our brilliant scholar-athletes, the coaches who work tirelessly to recruit and support them, the faculty who inspire and mentor them, and the staff who guide and encourage them. We have set our sights on elevating our teams' competitiveness while maintaining the full academic engagement and achievement our student-athletes desire and expect. This delicate balance requires thoughtful planning, exquisite attention, caring mentoring, open communication, and precise execution by all parties involved. I am so proud of everyone who has contributed to this significant accomplishment."
Two different measures of graduation rates are presented in the NCAA's report: Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) and Division I Graduation Success Rate (GSR). The FGR indicates the percentage of freshmen who entered and received athletics aid during a given academic year who graduated within six years. The GSR adds to the first-time freshmen, those students who entered midyear and student-athletes who transferred into an institution and received athletics aid.
14 Perfect GSR Scores
Under the GSR formula, Colgate's 14 teams scoring perfect 100 percent rates included golf, men's hockey, men's soccer, men's swimming and diving, men's tennis, women's basketball, women's cross country and track and field, women's rowing, women's hockey, field hockey, women's lacrosse, women's soccer, women's tennis, and volleyball.
Additionally, Colgate performed well in the federal guidelines with an average FGR score of 91, including three programs with 100 percent rates. Teams with perfect FGR scores included women's basketball, field hockey, and volleyball. For the purposes of this release, cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field are considered one sport instead of three.
About the NCAA Graduation Success Rate
The NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) is designed to reflect the proportion of student-athletes on any given team who earn a college degree within a six-year window of their initial enrollment. The GSR was developed in response to colleges and universities who asked for an alternative rate that more accurately reflects the movement among college student-athletes. The GSR takes into account incoming transfers who graduate from a different institution than the one they started at and transfers who leave an institution in good standing. This year's data is for the class of student-athletes who entered Colgate in 2015-16.
