IOWA CITY, Iowa – According to the NCAA’s annual report on the academic successes across the country, University of Iowa student-athletes graduated at a rate of 89 percent, when the rate was calculated using the criteria for the NCAA’s “Graduation Success Rate,” or “GSR.”
That number, only one percentage point off of Iowa’s school-record 90 percent, is the sixth highest score in the Big Ten.
Seven UI teams scored a perfect GSR: women’s basketball, field hockey, women’s golf, men’s gymnastics, softball, women’s swimming, and volleyball. Field hockey and women’s golf have posted perfect GSR scores for the past 11 years, while volleyball has posted perfect marks for the past seven. Eleven of Iowa’s 24 teams posted GSR’s that were at or above last year’s rate, and all 24 teams posted a GSR above 74 percent.
“Our student-athletes, coaches, and staff members carry out our department value statement to ‘Win. Graduate. Do It Right.’ daily,” said Henry B. and Patricia B. Tippie Director of Athletics Chair Gary Barta. “Our students continue to strive for excellence in the classroom, and the graduation rates achieved this year are yet another example of that success. I love their intensity and commitment to compete in the classroom as well as in competition.”
Student-athletes who attended the University of Iowa from 2010-2013 graduated at a rate of 71 percent when the rate was calculated under the criteria of the federal government’s benchmark for graduation success. This competitive with the score posted by the University of Iowa student-body (73 percent).
The NCAA introduced the GSR in 2005 to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. Unlike the federal graduation rate, the GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees.
