Northern Arizona Athletics Posts Improved Graduation Success Rate

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. – Northern Arizona University student-athletes posted a 60 percent federal graduation rate for the entering classes from 2002-03, while recording a school-best 70 percent graduation success rate, the NCAA announced today.

NAU posted an improvement from a 59 percent GSR for the four-year period reported in 2007 and 67 percent in 2008, improving for the third consecutive year. The overall student body at NAU graduates at a 53 percent federal graduation rate for the same period.

The swimming and diving program led the department for the second consecutive year with a 93 percent GSR among seven programs with a 70 percent or better mark.

The NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) was developed in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation data that more accurately reflect the mobility among college students today. It improves on the federally mandated graduation rates by including students who were omitted from the federal calculation.

The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students-athletes transferring into the institutions. The GSR also allows institutions to subtract student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained.

Federal Graduation Rates are calculated for both student-athletes and the general student population. Therefore only the Federal Graduation Rate can be used to compare graduation rates of student-athletes with those of the general student population.