UVA Athletics Matches Its Highest NCAA Graduation Success Rate

UVA students walking through grounds for Final Exercises

UVA student-athletes posted a 95% Graduation Success Rate, well above the national average of 88%. (Photo by Sanjay Suchak, University Communications)

The NCAA has released its annual Graduation Success Rate data for student-athletes who matriculated between 2011 and 2014, and the scores for University of Virginia student-athletes matches the highest since the NCAA began issuing the report.

Cavalier student-athletes covered during the current report graduated at a 95% rate, the same rate from last year’s report that was the highest mark for UVA athletics since the NCAA launched the Graduation Success Rate program in 1998.

The NCAA’s national average for this year’s reporting range is 88%.

The Graduation Success Rate measures graduation rates for student-athletes by team. The metric considers student-athletes who are on scholarship their first year and who graduate from their respective universities or leave their programs, via transfer to other universities or for professional opportunities, while in good academic standing.

A complete and searchable Graduation Rates Report is available online at NCAA.org.

The data shows that 19 of 21 of UVA’s programs matched or exceeded the national average (88%) for their respective scores, and that the other two programs, football and men’s tennis, were just behind the national average at 86%.

Ten UVA programs recorded perfect 100% scores: baseball, men’s basketball, women’s basketball, women’s cross country and track & field, women’s golf, women’s lacrosse, women’s soccer, softball, women’s swimming and volleyball.

Volleyball posted a 100% graduation rate for the 17th consecutive year, which covers the entire history of the report.

The Cavalier women’s golf team had a 100% rate for the 12th straight year, which covers the history of its program.

Women’s cross country/track & field and women’s swimming achieved a perfect mark for the eighth straight year. The UVA women’s lacrosse team had its 12th 100% graduation total in the 15-year history of the report.

The NCAA Graduation Success Rate is designed to show the proportion of student-athletes on any given team who earn a college degree. The NCAA has imposed a new set of academic standards that seeks to hold teams and institutions accountable for how well a student-athlete progresses toward a degree.

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