UM Student-Athletes Exceed National Average in Graduation Success Rate

Dec. 10, 2009

CORAL GABLES – University of Miami student-athletes who began college between 1999 and 2002 had an overall Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 82 percent according to figures recently released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). That rate exceeded the 79 percent figure complied by all NCAA Division 1 universities.

“We are extremely proud of the latest Graduation Success Rate figures,” commented UM Director of Athletics Kirby Hocutt. “The entire athletic department takes great pride in placing emphasis on academics, and these figures are the result of that.”

Six teams–women’s basketball, men’s cross country, men’s track and field, women’s golf, men’s diving and women’s tennis–all earned a perfect 100 percent graduation rate, and 11-of-14 teams achieved an 85 percent or higher mark.

In figures compiled recently by USA Today, the football squad’s 75 percent score tied for fourth place among teams currently ranked in the top 25. Among the Bowl Championship Series conferences (ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, PAC 10 and SEC) and including Notre Dame, UM football’s GSR ranks in a tie for 12th. The UM men’s basketball team, which had a GSR of 73 percent, ranks tied for 21st.