RENO — Student-athletes at the University of Nevada are graduating at a record-high rate of 81 percent, according to the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate report announced today.
The record mark shows a two-point rise from last year’s score of 79 percent in the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and the 81 percent tops the previous high-water mark of 80 percent, which the Wolf Pack had twice hit previously.
“Our student-athletes strive for excellence in competition and in the classroom, and we are proud of their successes, achievements and accolades,” athletics director Doug Knuth said. “We are unwavering in our support of the academic mission of our great University and are thankful for the commitment and support from the campus administration and the academic units on our campus. Our coaches and staff maintain a focus on academic achievement by our student-athletes and will continue to do so.”
This is the 13th year that the NCAA has calculated data for the GSR and the Wolf Pack’s rate has risen nine times in that span.
The Wolf Pack’s first score was 62 percent in 2005 and the GSR has risen steadily since. Overall, Nevada has seen more than 800 of its student-athletes graduate in the past dozen years.
“We stress student success in all aspects of the University’s mission, and this institutional goal extends to the education and achievement of our student-athletes,” University President Marc Johnson said. “Our student-athletes are accomplishing great things in the classroom, which is reflective of a learning environment created through the hard work of the student-athletes, and, as well, by our coaches and an athletics support staff that is thoroughly committed to their success. We know our student-athletes’ time here is relatively brief; what Athletic Director Doug Knuth and his staff have accomplished is a strong sense in our student-athletes that the attainment of a college degree will help them throughout the course of their lives.”
This year’s GSR is based on student-athletes who began enrollment in the fall of 2010 or the spring of 2011 and received athletic aid in their first year of college.
The Graduation Success Rate was developed by the NCAA as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes.
Unlike the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR), the Graduation Success Rate holds institutions accountable for transfer student-athletes, includes mid-year enrollees, and is calculated for every sport.
The FGR for Nevada’s student-athletes came in at 65 percent for this cohort. That number has also increased overall, from 47 percent in 2007, to a school-best 68 percent in 2014’s data.
The FGR measures only those students who complete a degree from their initial school and counts all transfer students as academic failures.
Among Mountain West Conference schools, Nevada was one of seven intuitions coming in at 81 percent or better in this year’s GSR report.
