GSR is Good News for Towson STUDENT-Athletes

As you may have noted from the recent media coverage, the NCAA released the Graduation Success Rate Report last week, looking at the graduation success of those students that entered in 1997 through 2000.

The GSR, a report designed by the NCAA six years ago, evaluates all scholarship student-athletes within each program, including transfers in and out of programs. The federal government also tracks the graduation rates of the college students, but does not account for transfers.  Therefore, the GSR may be a more accurate measure of true academic progress within a program. In fact, the NCAA GSR includes approximately 36% more student-athletes than the federal report.

For Towson, the most recent GSR information was very good news and confirmed the premise that the academic achievement of student-athletes is valued and important on our campus.  

All 17 Towson programs had a graduation success rate above 70 percent. Six sport programs graduated 100 percent of the student-athletes who enrolled at Towson during those four years. Those programs included men’s golf, women’s basketball, field hockey, women’s soccer, women’s tennis and volleyball.

Six other programs were above the national average for their sport. Those programs included baseball, men’s basketball, football, men’s soccer, softball and women’s cross country/track.

Since the GSR does not address the graduation rate of the student body, the federal report is often used for that comparison. Under the federal methodology, Towson graduated 68 percent of its student-athletes over the past four years, 11 percent higher than the student body. The message here is that, regardless of what tool is used, Towson student-athletes do well in the classroom and graduate at a great rate.

I credit the success of our student-athletes to three primary groups. First, our coaches do a great job recruiting students that have a chance to be successful at Towson. Also, early in each student’s college career, the coaches set the expectations regarding academic progress.

Second, our faculty and academic advisors do a great job working with our students to insure that they can be successful, both in the classroom and on the field of competition.

And, third, of course, our student-athletes ultimately get it done in the classroom. The coaches and faculty can provide expectations and resources, but the students need to get the results.

For anyone who follows our program, there will undoubtedly be many great athletics achievements to cheer as the 2007-08 season unfolds. As a supporter of the program, I’m sure you take equal pride in knowing that the students representing our university are also achieving academically.