INDIANAPOLIS – The Great Lakes Valley Conference continues to rank as one of the nation’s premier NCAA Division II conferences for academic success. Among the 23 NCAA Division II conferences analyzed in the report provided by the national office Wednesday, the GLVC ranked tied for third in Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) at 66 percent with the California Collegiate Athletic Association, and was alone in third for Academic Success Rate (ASR) at 82 percent for all student-athletes.
Additionally, the GLVC saw 12 of its 14 member institutions last year equal or exceed the national four-year FGR average of 61 percent, while 13 member schools eclipsed the national ASR of 73 percent.
The Northeast-10 Conference had the highest FGR percentage at 71, while the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference followed in second at 68. For ASR, the Northeast-10 led the way at 88 percent, followed by the Sunshine State Conference at 86.
Since 2012, the GLVC has annually ranked among the nation’s top three Division II conferences in both FGR and ASR.
The report, which focuses on the academic success of freshman cohorts who enrolled in school between 2009-12, and were then given a six-year window to graduate, indicates that 5,239 of the GLVC’s 6,398 student-athletes earned their degrees, which established the conference’s ASR. The FGR was calculated by 2,856 graduates among 4,306 selected student-athletes.
According to the NCAA, the Division II ASR, which was first introduced in 2005, is a rolling average of the graduation outcomes for Division II student-athletes. Even when using the less-inclusive federal rate (which does not include transfer student-athletes and mid-year enrollees), Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. In addition to the 73 percent ASR figure, the national FGR for Division II student-athletes of soared four points to an all-time high of 61 percent – nine percentage points higher than the overall student body at Division II colleges and universities.