STANFORD, Calif. - Stanford Athletics registered an overall graduation rate of 98 percent in the latest Graduation Success Rate (GSR) report released by the NCAA on Wednesday. Included in that total were 19 programs earning a 100 percent graduation rate.
Both the GSR and Federal Graduation Rates (FGR) are based upon classes from 2005-08 and reflect the percentage of student-athletes earning a degree within six years. The NCAA developed the GSR to account for transfer student-athletes, mid-year enrollees and others not tracked by the FGR. Stanford student-athletes have a FGR four-class average of 95 percent.
Stanford has produced the same totals (98 percent GSR, 95 percent FGR) for the second straight year. In 2013, the Cardinal boasted a GSR of 97 percent while its FGR score was 93 percent.
There were 11 women’s programs achieving perfect GSR scores: basketball, fencing, gymnastics, lacrosse, rowing, soccer, softball, swimming, synchronized swimming, volleyball and water polo.
Perfect GSR ratings were also awarded to eight men’s programs: cross country/track and field, fencing, golf, gymnastics, soccer, tennis, water polo and wrestling.
Football received a GSR of 99 percent for the second consecutive year. That total leads all Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) and Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) institutions and ranks 10 points higher than the next Pac-12 school (UCLA - 89 percent).
Five other programs checked in at 90 percent or higher: baseball (96), football (99), men’s swimming (96), men’s volleyball (94) and women’s fencing (96).
Stanford continued to further enhance its reputation as the nation’s leader in combining academics and athletics in 2015, as the Cardinal captured its 21st consecutive Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, presented to the most successful intercollegiate athletic department in the country. Stanford has also won at least one NCAA championship in each of the last 39 seasons, the longest such streak in the nation. Of Stanford’s 128 championships overall, 107 are NCAA titles.
Meanwhile, Stanford has claimed 29 national championships since the 2004-05 academic year, the first year included in the latest GSR data.
While 98 percent of Stanford student-athletes completed degrees within the GSR definition, they also do so through challenging majors. Human biology, science, technology and society (STS) and engineering are among the top five majors for Stanford student-athletes and non-athletes alike.
The GSR is the NCAA's more comprehensive calculation of student-athlete academic success. Unlike the federally mandated methodology, the NCAA rate includes incoming transfer students who graduate as well as and students enrolling in the spring semester who receive athletic aid and graduate. The GSR excludes from the calculation student-athletes who leave an institution who are academically eligible to compete such as transfer students.
The less-inclusive FGR is limited to individuals in the cohort who entered their freshmen year on athletic aid while also counting any individuals in the cohort that leave the institution as a non-graduate (including transfer students who may graduate elsewhere).
By contrast, the APR, or Academic Progress Rate, is a year-by-year gauge of eligibility and retention for Division I scholarship student-athletes that was established in 2004. It is a composite team measurement based upon how individual team members perform academically.
