University of Iowa student-athletes have outperformed their peers nationally academically again this year - and set another record for graduation success - according to data released Thursday by the NCAA as part of its annual report on the work in the classroom by student-athletes across the country.
Student-athletes that entered the University of Iowa in the fall of 2006 graduated at a rate of 72 percent, according to the NCAA. That mark - which uses the federal government benchmark for graduation success - means UI student-athletes have graduated at a rate of 70 percent or better in four of the last five years.
According to the NCAA, the graduation rate for all student-athletes nationwide who enrolled in the fall of 2006 was 65 percent. The graduation rate for all students who enrolled in the UI in the fall of 2006 was 70 percent.
The UI also set a new record by posting a score of 88 percent in the NCAA's "Graduation Success Rate," or GSR. That mark was one point better than last year's record-setting mark of 87 percent. According to the NCAA, the GSR for all NCAA Division I institutions was 81 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 student-athletes. The GSR also accounts for mid-year enrollees and is calculated for every sport.
"At the University of Iowa, our student-athletes, coaches, and staff aspire to win, graduate, and to do it right. The data shared today by the NCAA is more evidence of our long history of success in the area of bringing to our campus talented student-athletes who are as committed to high achievement in the classroom as they are in athletics competition," said UI Director of Athletics Gary Barta.
"As always, it's important to not only recognize the commitment of our student-athletes, but also the commitment of all the faculty and staff who are a big part of this success. We could not achieve at this level without the contributions they make on a daily basis."
Four UI teams - field hockey, women's golf, softball, and tennis - each scored a perfect 100 in the GSR. For the UI women's golf team, the perfect score was its fourth straight 100. For the UI field hockey team, its perfect score marked the third straight year that it has scored 100 on the GSR.
Nine additional UI teams scored in the 90s and 14 UI teams had GSR scores that exceeded the national average for their peers. Specifically, Iowa's football team earned a score of 81 on the GSR, which was 11 points better than the national average of 70. Iowa's men's basketball team scored an 88 on the GSR, which was 20 points better than the national average of 68. The Iowa women's basketball team also bested the national averaged, registering a 91 GSR against an 86 scored by its peer group.
Last June, for the fourth consecutive year, all 24 of the University of Iowa's intercollegiate athletics programs were determined to be achieving academically at a rate that surpassed the national benchmark for academic success established by the NCAA.
The NCAA's Academic Progress Rate report for 2012-13 revealed that all of Iowa's 24 sports programs are comfortably above the 930 threshold that signals a red flag for the NCAA. The highlights of Iowa's report include: