INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA Graduation Success Rate report on Division I student-athletes released today places the University of Dayton in familiar territory – among the nation’s best in graduating its student-athletes. UD’s 95 GSR in this year’s report places the University tied for 21st in the nation and tied for first in the Atlantic 10.
The Flyer men’s and women’s basketball teams both have 100 GSR scores. UD’s men’s team is the only one in the Atlantic 10 with a perfect GSR, while the women are one of five.
Dayton is one of just four institutions whose men’s and women’s basketball programs have perfect GSR numbers and both won at least 20 games last season. That exclusive club’s membership consists of Dayton, Duke, Notre Dame and Princeton.
In the Atlantic 10 Conference, UD and Xavier tied for the best overall GSR. Dayton has nine of its sports teams – men’s basketball, women’s basketball, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s rowing, women’s soccer, men’s tennis, women’s tennis and volleyball -- that have a perfect 100 GSR in this year’s report, and that is the most of Atlantic 10-sponsored sports, tying UD with Fordham, George Washington and Xavier.
Two more Flyer teams are second in their respective conferences. Football is second in the Pioneer Football League, and baseball is second in the A-10.
Nationally, Brown and Columbia are the only schools with a 100 GSR for all of their sports programs. American, Colgate, Dartmouth and Notre Dame are second at 99. Harvard, Holy Cross and Siena are next at 98, followed by Boston College, Bucknell, Davidson, Duke, Lafayette, and Yale at 97. Creighton, Loyola-Marymount, Northwestern, Penn, and the U.S. Naval Academy all have a 96 GSR. Dayton is tied with Fairfield, Rice, Seattle, Vermont, Wofford and Xavier at 95.
“It might be tempting for people to look at this as ‘business as usual’ for the University of Dayton, but that would short-change how important our student-athletes’ academic success is to everyone at the University of Dayton,” Tim Wabler, UD Vice-President and Director of Athletics said. “It speaks to the type of young person we attract to the University, as well as the commitment to success in and out of the classroom by our student-athletes, our coaches and our academic support team.”
The Graduation Success Rate for all Division I student-athletes across the country who began college in 2005 is 82 percent. This is the highest ever in Division I, and it has risen eight points in 10 years of GSR collection.
The average Graduation Success Rate for the last four graduating classes is 80 percent, also the best for the four-year cohort.
