College Hockey Inc.
Record Graduation Rate Leads NCAA
Men’s hockey single-year GSR hits highest point ever at 95.8%.

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Men’s hockey’s single-year GSR increased for the third straight year.

NCAA men’s hockey student-athletes continue their remarkable academic success, posting a 95.8% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data, released Wednesday by the NCAA.

That single-year data, which measures student-athletes who enrolled in 2012, is men’s hockey’s best single-year number since the NCAA began tracking GSR in 2002 and leads all Division I men’s sports in this year’s data (tied with gymnastics).

NCAA Release | NCAA Averages & Trends (.pdf)

“This is very exciting news for everyone involved with college hockey. Men’s hockey student-athletes continue to demonstrate that it’s possible to simultaneously achieve your athletic and academic dreams,” College Hockey Inc. Executive Director Mike Snee said. “Men’s hockey’s performance in these NCAA metrics has always been impressive, so to reach new heights is a tremendous accomplishment and a testament to our student-athletes, coaches and institutions.”

Men’s hockey’s single-year GSR of 95.8% stands significantly higher than the overall NCAA men’s sport average (89%). The NCAA also measures each sport’s GSR spanning a four-year period, with men’s hockey posting a 92% GSR for classes enrolling from 2009 through 2012. That ranks sixth behind only skiing, fencing, water polo, gymnastics and tennis among men’s sports.

Nineteen schools – nearly one-third of the 60 in Division I – recorded a perfect 100% GSR in the most recent data: Air Force, Alaska, American International, Bentley, Bowling Green, Canisius, Colgate, Denver, Harvard, Lake Superior State, UMass Lowell, Mercyhurst, Miami, Penn State, Princeton, Providence, Quinnipiac, Robert Morris and Yale. Thirteen more schools had rates of 90% or better.

Men’s hockey’s performance in the NCAA GSR follows similar success in the NCAA’s Academic Progress Rate (APR). Hockey also leads all men’s sports in that measure, which examines student-athletes’ success in the classroom and progress toward their degree.