Water Polo Ranks High in 2008 NCAA Division I & II Graduation Success Rates

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has released the 2008 Division I Graduation Success Rate and Division II Academic Success Rate reports with the sport of water polo and the Collegiate Water Polo Association near the top of both lists.

Men's water polo student-athletes graduated at a rate of 87 percent for the four-year class average from the 1998-2001 entering classes, the second highest of any Division I sport behind lacrosse's 88 percentage.

Water polo experienced a two percent increase in success from the 1997-00 period rising from 85 percent. The rise tied baseball, rifle, soccer and wrestling for the second largest increase behind volleyball's five percent rise over the same time period.

Statistically, men's water polo athletes are now graduating at the highest rate of any Division I sport at a 91.7 percent clip, 0.8 percent higher than lacrosse's 90.9 percentage, based on information from the 2001 cohort year.

Other Division I sports dramatically trail men's water polo and lacrosse including Football - Championship Series (62.6%), Football - Bowl Series (66.3%), Basketball (65.0%), Baseball (72.4%), Cross Country/Track & Field (75.2%), Rifle (77.8%), Golf (79.7%), Ice Hockey (80.1%), Soccer (80.5%), Volleyball (80.9%), Fencing (81.0%), Skiing (83.3%), Tennis (84.1%), Swimming (86.2%) and Gymnastics (86.7%).

Among the Division I CWPA member institutions, Saint Francis College (100%), Fordham University (100%), the United States Naval Academy (95%), George Washington University (83%), Iona College (75%) were among the leaders in the sport, while Brown University, Bucknell University and Harvard University did not report information.

In the women's rankings, water polo stands at an 86 percent rate for the 1998-01 freshmen, up one point from the 1997-00 group's 85 percent, to trail Division I leader Skiing (96%).

However, the sports success rate increased to 91 percent for the 2001 frosh, a rise of 10 percent from the 2000 class’s 81 percent success rate, boding well for continued growth to equal 2001 leader Rifle (100%).

Among Division I CWPA institutions, Bucknell University (100%), George Washington (100%), University of Michigan (94%) and Indiana University (93%) stand a top the listing, while Brown University and Harvard University did not report information.

The Collegiate Water Polo Association and the sport also performed well in the Division II Academic Success Rate Report for men (73%) and women (79%) encompassing information on student-athletes in the 1999, 2000 and 2001 entering cohorts.

For the men, Gannon University (100%), Queens College (100%) and Salem International University (100%) topped the listings, while Gannon (100%) also led the women's rankings with Queens College and Salem International not reporting information for the women's report.

Overall, the aggregate Graduation Success Rate for all of Division I moved to within two percentage points of NCAA President Myles Brand’s goal of 80 percent, up a point from last year’s 77 percent GSR.

In the years since the GSR was created, the academic success of student-athletes over the long term trends positively, influenced by various standards the Association has adopted to help improve academic performance. The NCAA and member institutions are committed to the academic performance of student-athletes, demonstrated by increasing academic standards both before enrollment and after student-athletes arrive on campus to learn and compete.

This commitment is bolstered by the continuing upward movement in graduation success. Nearly eight of every 10 student-athletes earn a degree within six years of matriculation. Nearly nine of 10 earn a degree within 10 years.

“We still have work to do and can’t declare victory just yet, but the trend lines are moving in the right direction,” Myles Brand said. “The ultimate success is in the changed lives of student-athletes. The so-called ‘dumb jock’ myth is just that – a myth.”

While the aggregate Division I GSR is now 78 percent, the year-by-year figures are trending upward also. The most recent data collection year (student-athletes who entered in 2001-02) showed that 79 percent of student-athletes graduated within the six-year time frame.

This class was exposed to several years of the Academic Performance Program, the NCAA’s real-time metric of academic success. The NCAA began collecting eligibility and retention information for every student-athlete in the APP cohort beginning in 2003-04, so the most recent class included in these GSR data were touched by that reform as well.

Additionally, increased core-course and initial-eligibility standards were imposed for the incoming class of 2003.

The data revealed another upward trend – the rising number of graduates. About 11,000 additional student-athletes graduated over the six years between the 1995 entering class and the 2001 entering class, and about 4,000 of them because of the increase in graduation rates. The remainder is because of a larger number of student-athletes competing in Division I.

In addition to the overall increase, the GSR for male student-athletes rose from 70 to 71 percent. The GSR for female student-athletes remained steady at an already-high 86 percent.
The NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and the Academic Success Rate (ASR) were developed in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation data that more accurately reflect the mobility among college students today. Both rates improve on the federally mandated graduation rate by including students who were omitted from the federal calculation.

The GSR measures graduation rates at Division I institutions and includes students 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.

The GSR captures about 37 percent more students than the federal rate, resulting in a more accurate assessment of the academic success of student-athletes. However, the federal rate provides the only method by which student-athletes can be compared with the general student body.

The ASR measures graduation rates at Division II institutions and is very similar to the GSR. The difference is that the ASR also includes those freshmen who were recruited to the institution but did not receive athletics financial aid.

Statistical information for the 2005-08 Division I and 2006-08 Division II reports is available on the NCAA website.