Bowling Green was recently named the tenth school in terms of student athlete graduation success rate out of all Division one schools. This ranking also puts the University at the top of the Mid-American Conference.
Graduation success rate is the percentage of student athletes at a university who graduate within six years. The University’s rate was 92 percent last year, which is up three percent from 2016.
“I think it speaks to the university at large and the support the University gives to its students and the opportunities it gives students to succeed,” assistant Athletic Director for Athletic Communications, Jason Knavel, said. 10 university teams have a 100 percent graduation rating, and two more have ratings in the 90th percentile. 78 percent of the teams also have a rating that is at or above the national level for the sport. The University is hoping to maintain or even improve this ranking in the next few years.
“Our graduation success rate continues to be exceptional and goes up every semester and every year,” Knavel said, “when you get to a point that it’s really, really good, like it is right now, there’s just little tweaks you do that make very tiny, incremental improvements.”
Other schools ranked in the top 10 include Stanford, Notre Dame, Northwestern, Vanderbilt, Boston College, Wake Forest and South Carolina. Students are also proud of the ranking.
“It feels good knowing they have our backs and they give us a lot resources so [the ranking] makes sense,” freshman cross country athlete Kyle Hibinger said.
Student athlete services at the University provides resources for the athletes to achieve academic and personal success that include tutoring, networking events, community engagement and various workshops. Student-athlete GPA at the University is also worth noting with 259 athletes with a GPA of 3.0 or more and an average cumulative GPA of 3.268.
According to an article on the University’s athletics site, “The Graduation Success Rate was designed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately measure the success of Division One student-athletes and it takes into account the many different academic paths followed by today’s college students.”
Student athlete graduation rates are measured using two rankings: federal graduation rate and graduation success rate. The difference between the two is that graduation success rate counts transfer students, mid-year transfers and is calculated for each sport individually. The University hopes to use this ranking as a key selling point when recruiting potential athletes.
“From a coach’s standpoint, when they can go into a kid’s home and talk to their parents and say 92 percent of the student-athletes who come to BG end up getting their degree, that’s a huge thing to be able to say,” Knavel said.
After years of improvement, the University does not plan on giving up this high ranking anytime soon.
