Raiders among top 10 universities nationally
Colgate student-athletes have boosted their graduation success rate to 98 percent, according to NCAA figures released Tuesday.
The rating places Colgate alongside such Division I contemporaries as Duke, Northwestern, Notre Dame and Princeton.
The Raiders recorded perfect 100-percent GSR scores from 17 of its 21 NCAA-sponsored teams for the second consecutive year. For the purposes of this release, cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field are considered one sport instead of three.
“Colgate’s graduation success rate is an essential mark of our overall success,” Colgate Vice President and Director of Athletics Dr. Nicki Moore said. “Our scholar-athletes not only compete and achieve at a high level in athletics, but do so while earning a world-class education. We have much to be proud of with this excellent graduation success rate. While primarily a product of the hard work and commitment by our student-athletes, it also reflects the dedication of coaches, staff and faculty who keep academic engagement and graduation as our top priority.
“The genuine passion for learning and achievement in every field and every arena is evident in the way we operate as a department, and it is a reflection of the spirit of Colgate University.”
Colgate’s 17 teams earning percent 100-percent GSR scores are women’s basketball, field hockey, men’s golf, men’s and women’s hockey, men’s and women’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, men’s and women’s soccer, softball, men’s and women’s swimming and diving, men’s and women’s tennis, women’s track and field/cross country and volleyball.
This year’s data is for the class of student-athletes who entered Colgate in 2013-14.
The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in 2002, primarily in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility and modern patterns of college students beyond what the federal graduation rate measures.
Rather than treating outgoing transfers as an academic failure, as the federal methodology does, the GSR distinguishes between those who transfer out in good academic standing and those who were not eligible at the time of departure. Similarly, while the federal rate does not recognize students who enter the school as transfer students, the GSR cohort includes transfer student-athletes who initially enrolled elsewhere. This calculation provides a more accurate appraisal of student-athlete success.