Nov. 5, 2015
DeKALB, Ill. – For the third year in a row, Northern Illinois University Athletics ranks tops in the Mid-American Conference and among the national leaders in the most important statistic of all – graduating student-athletes.
According to the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) report for 2015 released today by the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NIU’s 87 percent overall GSR for student-athletes who enrolled between 2005-06 and 2008-09 is four points above the national average for Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) schools.
“On Tuesday night, we had a great win on the football field,” said NIU Associate Vice-President and Director of Athletics Sean T. Frazier, referencing the Huskies 32-27 victory over No. 20 Toledo. “But nothing is more significant than what we’re doing every day to ensure that NIU student-athletes earn their degrees. This report is a huge win and aligns with the goals we set forth in our Strategic Plan. It is further proof that we are committed to the success of every student-athlete who puts on a Huskie uniform.”
NIU’s overall GSR number includes a phenomenal 98 percent mark for Huskie women student-athletes who made up the 2005-2008 cohort. Six of NIU’s eight women’s teams (cross country and indoor and outdoor track and field are combined for GSR purposes) posted a perfect 100 percent graduation success rate in this year’s report - meaning that every scholarship student-athlete, including freshmen and transfers, who came to NIU in those sports between 2005 and 2008 earned her degree.
Each of those six women’s teams with perfect 100 percent GSRs, along with women’s cross country/track and field (93 percent) and the Huskie football team on the men’s side (86 percent), rank first or tied for first in the MAC in GSR for their sport. This is the eighth consecutive year the women's gymnastics team has had a 100 percent GSR, while women's golf has been at 100 percent for the last seven reports.
With an 86 percent GSR, the NIU football program not only leads the MAC in Graduation Success rate by 12 percentage points over the second-highest MAC program (Ohio at 74 percent) and is 14 points above the FBS average for a football team, the Huskies rank tied for 11th nationally among FBS programs. Among public institutions, NIU ranks tied for third in football GSR with Alabama, Texas-Antonio and Utah State, behind only UCF (90 percent) and UCLA (89). NIU Football is second among all Illinois Division I institutions (FBS and FCS), behind only Northwestern (97 percent), with Illinois State and Illinois checking in at 78 and 70 percent, respectively.
NIU’s overall GSR for its seven men’s programs is 81 percent, also tops in the MAC (ahead of Miami’s 80 percent mark) and four points above the national average. The NIU women’s 98 percent mark leads the league by four percentage points over Ohio.
The GSR has been used by the NCAA as an academic assessment tool for the last 14 years and is seen as the most accurate measure of a school's ability to graduate student-athletes. Unlike the federal graduation rate, the GSR holds institutions accountable for transfer students and accounts for mid-year enrollees. Universities are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing, while incoming transfer students and midyear enrollees are included in the calculation.
“We’re encouraged by our most recent GSR numbers, in all our sport programs, and are determined to get even better,” said NIU Senior Associate Athletic Director Melissa Dawson, who leads the Huskies Student-Athlete Academic Support Services unit. “Providing NIU student-athletes with the tools to succeed in the classroom and beyond takes a team effort, involving the students, coaches, our coordinators in SAASS and the faculty and academic advisors throughout campus.”
The complete Graduation Success Rate report for all Division I schools, including a searchable historical database and the Federal Graduation Rate data, is available online at NCAA.org.
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