Division III student-athletes continue to graduate at higher rates than their peers in the student-body, according to the most recent NCAA Academic Success Rate data.
The Division III national, four-year average ASR held steady at 87 percent, based on a representative sample of 140 schools participating in the voluntary reporting program in the 2013-14 academic year.
Now in its fifth year of voluntary data collection, Division III’s ASR is similar to Division I’s Graduation Success Rate and Division II’s ASR in that it includes transfers in the calculation but removes students who left school while academically eligible.
Within the less-inclusive federal rate, Division III student-athletes again perform better than the general student body. The federal rate for student-athletes was 69 percent compared to 59 percent for the general student body.
“Division III student-athletes continue to impress on the field, in the classroom and in life,” said Dan Dutcher, vice president of Division III. “We are extremely proud of the continued successes of our student-athletes, as they continue to earn their degrees at significantly higher rates than their peers in the student-body, and we look forward to helping our Division III members continue these successes in the years to come.”
Since 2009, more than 200 member schools have participated in Division III’s voluntary data collection program. In the most recent year 140 schools participated, which is the highest number of participants to date.
The measurement of graduation success among student-athletes was created when presidents and chancellors in all three NCAA divisions called for the Association to develop a method for measuring academic success that better reflects transfer patterns in higher education. The Division I Graduation Success Rate and Division II Academic Success Rate were both announced today as well.
