Holy Cross Among National Leaders in Graduation Success Rate



Eighteen of Holy Cross’ athletic teams have achieved a perfect 100 percent graduation rate, according to the Graduation Success Rate Report, which has been released by the NCAA. The data used to calculate the graduation success rate is from the four-class aggregate of entering classes from 1998 through 2001, for which the NCAA has compiled sport-by-sport figures.

Overall, the lowest graduation success rate for any Holy Cross team was 93 percent, far above the NCAA Division I average of 78 percent for all sports.

Nationally, three schools had 99 percent graduation success rates for their student-athletes: Alcorn State, Colgate and San Francisco. Holy Cross, Notre Dame and the U.S. Naval Academy were next at 98 percent.

“Speaking on behalf of our coaches, staff, and all involved in Holy Cross Athletics, we are very proud of the recent graduation rate report,” said Richard M. Regan ’76, director of Athletics. “As this reports demonstrates, while we strive to be competitive in the athletic arena, academic excellence continues to be a top priority at Holy Cross.”

Holy Cross also shared top honors with fellow Patriot League member Colgate, with 16 league-sponsored teams reporting at 100 percent GSR.

The Crusader programs to post perfect graduation rates were baseball, softball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s cross country and track, men’s golf, women’s golf, women’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, women’s lacrosse, women’s rowing, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, men’s swimming and diving, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, and volleyball.

This year marks the eighth year that GSR data have been collected. The NCAA began collecting GSR data with the entering freshman class of 1995. The latest entering class for which data are available is 2001.

The NCAA also released the federal graduation rates for the classes entering in the fall of 2001. Student-athletes at Holy Cross who entered college at that time had a 93 percent graduation rate, compared with the overall Division I rate of 64 percent.

The graduation-rates report provides information about two groups of students at a college or university: (1) all undergraduate students who were enrolled in a full-time program of studies for a degree, and (2) student-athletes who received athletics aid from the college or university for any period of time during their entering year. The class that entered in 2001 is the most recent graduating class for which the required six years of information is available.

The graduation success rate differs from the federal graduation-rate formula in that it factors in transfer students who graduate, and does not penalize schools for losing transfers who leave in good academic standing.

For the NCAA release on the graduation rates, click here.