INDIANAPOLIS – The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR), which held good news for Nova Southeastern. NSU increased its ASR for the fifth straight year to 92, 21 percent higher than the national average.
Nova Southeastern student-athletes outperformed the national average and increased their ASR by four percent from last year. Based on student-athletes from 2003-06, All of NSU's programs held a higher standard than the overall national average. Six NSU teams held a perfect 100 percent ASR, including men's basketball, women's basketball, women's golf, women's soccer, softball and volleyball. NSU also posted a 52 federal graduation rate, a step above the national rate in the less-inclusive model.
For the seventh-straight year, the Sunshine State Conference posted the top NCAA Division II Academic Success Rate. SSC member institutions posted an ASR of 86 percent again to lead all conferences. The NCAA Division II ASR average was 71 percent.
NSU is one of the brightest institutions in the nation's top academic NCAA Division II conference. NSU's six teams with a perfect ASR ties Rollins for the highest mark in the SSC. Every school in the SSC earned an ASR of 80 percent or higher, which puts every conference school in the top-third of NCAA Division II. Rollins was credited with the highest ASR in the SSC at 94 percent, followed by Nova Southeastern (92%) and Eckerd (90%).
This is the eighth year the NCAA has released the ASR. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students into account and removes students who left the institution in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes.
Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes in the 2006 entering class decreased by one point to 54 percent, while the general student body held steady at 48 percent. At the NCAA Convention in January 2014, the Division II membership will vote on a five-part legislative package intended to increase student-athlete success and graduation rates. The five proposals in the package address a variety of academic standards, and include adjustments to eligibility standards and progress toward degree requirements.
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