INDIANAPOLIS – Thirty-three Horizon League teams posted perfect Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores and League squads performed collectively above the national averages in 12 of 19 sports, according to data released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association Thursday.
Overall, more than half (56 percent) of the 124 League teams measured exceeded the national averages in their respective sports.
The current GSR figures measures the graduation rates of NCAA Division I student-athletes who entered college in the 2006-2007 academic year.
Among Horizon League members, particularly notable was the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. Eight of the 13 Phoenix squads posted perfect graduation rates of 100. Overall, UW-Green Bay student-athletes earned degrees within six years at 91 percent rate.
“I want to congratulate Green Bay on its commitment to academic achievement, as demonstrated by these figures,” said Horizon League Commissioner Jonathan B. LeCrone. “Overall, we’re pleased, but not satisfied. Our goal, always, is for 100 percent of our student-athletes to earn meaningful degrees within a reasonable period of time and we will continue to do everything we can to help our institutions work toward that goal.”
Overall, NCAA Division I student-athletes earned degrees at an all-time high rate of 82 percent.
“More student-athletes than ever before are earning their college degrees, and we are gratified to see our reform efforts impact the lives of those we serve,” NCAA President Mark Emmert said. “We have even higher expectations for the future, but we are proud of the progress we have made.”
###
About the Horizon League Entering its 35th season of operation in the 2013-14 academic year, the Horizon League continues to aspire toward its goal of being one of the nation’s leading athletics conferences while being recognized as a leader in the development of student-athletes as leaders and role models. Comprised of nine public and private institutions of higher learning, the Horizon League is an NCAA Division I athletics conference that sponsors 19 intercollegiate championship sports and is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. The League and its member institutions strive to teach young people, through athletic competition, the value of learning, service to others and personal responsibility.