32 Division II schools earn academic honor

Thirty-two Division II member schools will be honored as part of the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence program for achieving four-year Academic Success Rates of 90 percent or higher. This is the seventh year of the program.

Bentley, Saint Michael’s and Point Loma led Division II with an Academic Success Rate of 98 percent, followed by Seattle Pacific, Stonehill and University of the Sciences with a 97 percent ASR.

The Northeast-10, Great Lakes Valley and Sunshine State conferences led Division II’s 24 conferences, with five athletics programs apiece posting ASRs of 90 percent or higher.

“Division II operates with a ‘Life in the Balance’ approach, emphasizing learning, growth and development through academics, athletics, community engagement, and post-graduation success,” said Glen Jones, president of Henderson State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. “Academics is a key component of this balance, and I am proud of the commitment our schools have made to this philosophy and the magnificent achievements of our student-athletes.”

The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletics scholarships.

The Division II ASR captures about 48 percent more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal rate, the ASR counts nonscholarship student-athletes and those who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere, while removing student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. Nationally, the ASR is 72 percent for Division II student-athletes who entered college from 2007 through 2010, an increase of 1 percentage point from the 2006-09 groups.

Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2010 entering class of student-athletes held steady at 56 percent, compared with 50 percent for the general student body.