When the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) was developed for Division I, the membership in Divisions II and III began to wonder whether a similar methodology could apply to them, even though the characteristics of membership are different in each division.

Division I student-athletes are more likely than their Division II counterparts to receive a full athletics grant-in-aid. In Division II, grants are based on a partial-scholarship model, whereby many student-athletes receive a portion of athletics-based aid, but few get a “full ride.” Division II also has a great number of student-athletes who participate in sports without receiving any athletics-based aid at all.

For Division II graduation rates, then, the NCAA in 2006 developed the Academic Success Rate (ASR), which is similar to the Division I GSR but also includes freshmen who did not receive athletics aid but did participate in athletics. As the GSR does in Division I, the ASR in Division II reveals student-athlete graduation rates that are much higher than those recorded by the federal methodology.

The most recent Academic Success Rate for the incoming class of 2017 reveals that 77% of Division II student-athletes graduate within six years of initial enrollment. The four-year rolling ASR for the 2014-17 classes is also 77%.

There’s no comparable rate for the student body, but even using the federal methodology, Division II student-athletes graduated at rates higher (59% compared to 53% for the most recent cohort) than their student body peers.