Tribe among nation's elite in graduating student-athletes
The College of William and Mary’s Athletics
Department showed a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 96 percent among
its student-athletes who entered school on athletics scholarships in
the 2000-01 athletics year in data recently released by the National
Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
The national average among all Division I schools was 77 percent. William and Mary’s average of 96 percent ranked seventh in the nation, with four departments tied for the top spot with an average of 98 percent. The Tribe’s average was the top in both the Colonial Athletic Association and among all Division I Virginia schools.
“Our continued success in the classroom underlies our program’s overall focus of being one of the nation’s most complete athletic programs,” stated William and Mary Athletics Director Terry Driscoll. “Our student-athletes get the opportunity to compete at the highest levels, both academically and athletically. I know it is a tremendous point of pride among the entire William and Mary family that our student-athletes show such a tremendous degree of achievement in both areas.”
The College’s federal graduation rate sits at 83 percent among its student-athletes receiving athletics scholarships, which compares even more favorably with the national average of 63 percent. William and Mary’s four-year class average with the federal rate is 86 percent (while the national average rests at 62 percent).
Of the 19 total programs audited by the NCAA for a GSR, the College was above the national average in 18, with gymnastics, soccer, swimming and tennis graduating 100 percent on the men’s side and basketball, track/cross country, golf, gymnastics, lacrosse, soccer, swimming, tennis and volleyball achieving a perfect mark on the women’s side.
The Tribe’s football program showed a 96 percent GSR, which puts it well above the national average for the Football Championship Series (FCS) of 65 percent. The men’s basketball program turned in a 92 percent GSR, which also towered over the national average for the sport at 61 percent. The women’s hoops program’s 100 percent rating is a full 19 percent about the national average score of 81.
The figures released by the NCAA also include overall GSR data for all Division I programs combined and nationally for each sport. In addition, the figures include the federal graduation rate data for each Division I department and selected varsity sports (football, baseball, men’s and women’s basketball, track and field).
