*ADDITIONAL INFORMATION COURTESY NCAA.ORG
INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA released its annual data featuring the Division II Federal Graduation Rates and Academic Success Rates on November 19 that sees the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference once again among the leaders in Division II across both measured metrics—Federal Graduation Rate and Academic Success Rate—in the majority of its sponsored sports.
The PSAC totaled 6,347 graduates among its 7,673 student-athletes who enrolled during the years of 2015 to 2018. For the purposes of the data, a student-athlete must earn his or her degree within six years of their initial enrollment to be considered as a graduate.
Overall, the PSAC produced an 83% Academic Success Rate and a 68% Federal Graduation Rate among student-athletes in this period’s cohorts. The conference's ASR is the second-highest mark among all of the Division II conferences that sponsor football, bested only by the Northeast 10 Conference's 87%.
The PSAC's ASR was also tied for fifth-highest among all Division II conferences overall despite once again enrolling the largest number of student-athletes in the division – nearly 1,100 more student-athletes than the next-highest conference (the Great Lakes Valley Conference’s 6,540, which tallied an ASR of 81%).
Additionally, the PSAC's student-athletes perform favorably when compared to the general student bodies at each institution – the conference's FGR of 68% is 11 points higher than the general study body's 57%. That 11-point difference is tied for the third-largest gap among all Division II conferences.
“Our Academic Success Rate and Federal Graduation Rate continue to rank among the very best in NCAA Division II, and that is no accident,” said PSAC Commissioner Steve Murray. “The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and each of our member institutions take great pride in holding ourselves to the highest academic standards. The classroom remains our priority, and these outcomes reflect the commitment our campuses, coaches, and student-athletes make every day to excellence in their academic pursuits.”
In specific sports, the conference's Federal Graduation Rate equals or betters the national Division II average in all 19 combined men's and women's sports that the PSAC offers. When compared to all other 22 Division II conferences, the PSAC's FGR is ranked in the top five in nine women's sports and seven men's sports. For the women, field hockey (73%), soccer (81%), softball (82%), swimming (83%), track and field (78%), and volleyball (78%) rank first or are tied for first. For the men, baseball's 73% is tied for the top mark in Division II and track and field is tied for first at 69%.
| Federal Graduation Rates – Division II Conference Comparison |
| Sport |
PSAC Federal Graduation Rate |
Division II
Conference Rank |
| Women's Basketball |
61% |
T – 6th |
| Field Hockey |
73% |
T – 1st |
| Women's Golf |
82% |
3rd |
| Women's Lacrosse |
77% |
3rd |
| Women's Soccer |
81% |
1st |
| Softball |
82% |
1st |
| Women's Swimming |
83% |
T – 1st |
| Women's Tennis |
80% |
4th |
| Women's Track and Field |
78% |
1st |
| Women's Volleyball |
78% |
T – 1st |
| Baseball |
70% |
1st |
| Men's Basketball |
51% |
7th |
| Football |
48% |
3rd |
| Men's Golf |
73% |
4th |
| Men's Soccer |
58% |
T – 5th |
| Men's Swimming |
68% |
T – 4th |
| Men's Tennis |
69% |
T – 6th |
| Men's Track and Field |
69% |
T – 1st |
| Wrestling |
62% |
2nd |
The PSAC also equals or betters the NCAA Division II average Academic Success Rate in 17 of 19 applicable sports. Baseball's ASR of 90% leads the way nationally and the PSAC also boasts eight women's sports and five men's sports in the top five when compared with all 22 other Division II conferences.
| Academic Success Rates – Division II Conference Comparison |
| Sport |
PSAC Academic Success Rate |
Division II
Conference Rank |
| Women's Basketball |
83% |
T – 10th |
| Field Hockey |
93% |
2nd |
| Women's Golf |
92% |
T – 5th |
| Women's Lacrosse |
94% |
5th |
| Women's Soccer |
94% |
T – 2nd |
| Softball |
94% |
3rd |
| Women's Swimming |
93% |
5th |
| Women's Tennis |
93% |
T – 7th |
| Women's Track and Field |
89% |
T – 3rd |
| Women's Volleyball |
94% |
3rd |
| Baseball |
90% |
1st |
| Men's Basketball |
69% |
8th |
| Football |
64% |
3rd |
| Men's Golf |
83% |
T – 8th |
| Men's Soccer |
80% |
T – 5th |
| Men's Swimming |
79% |
8th |
| Men's Tennis |
86% |
T – 7th |
| Men's Track and Field |
81% |
2nd |
| Wrestling |
78% |
2nd |
The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was outdated. Division II's ASR data includes student-athletes who transfer into a school and removes student-athletes who left the school in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 30,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data.
The Division II student-athlete graduation rate remains at an all-time high, according to the latest Academic Success Rate data. The overall four-cohort rate remains at 77%.
The data Division II released last Wednesday reflects graduation rates among student-athletes who entered college from 2015 to 2018. Those who entered in the most recently added cohort, 2018, would typically have been in the second semester of their sophomore year when the COVID-19 pandemic began in March 2020.
Overall, Division II student-athlete rates and many subgroup rates are at or near their highest-ever levels.
All women's sports recorded a four-cohort graduation rate of 80% or better, with ice hockey (95%) and the trio of field hockey, swimming, and tennis (92%) recording the highest rates.
This year, men's ice hockey had the biggest increase of any men's sport four-cohort graduation rate (increased 4 percentage points to 90%) and wrestling (increased 3 percentage points to 65%).
For more information, visit the NCAA Release link above. Find additional data tables below:
| 2015-2018 PSAC Academic Success Rate per sport compared to NCAA DII average |
| Sport |
PSAC ASR % |
NCAA II ASR % |
| M Baseball |
90% |
80% |
| M Basketball |
69% |
67% |
| M Football |
64% |
56% |
| M Golf |
92% |
83% |
| M Soccer |
80% |
77% |
| M Swimming |
79% |
82% |
| M Tennis |
86% |
86% |
| M Track/Cross Country |
81% |
72% |
| M Wrestling |
78% |
65% |
| W Basketball |
83% |
84% |
| W Field Hockey |
93% |
92% |
| W Golf |
92% |
91% |
| W Lacrosse |
94% |
91% |
| W Soccer |
94% |
89% |
| W Softball |
94% |
89% |
| W Swimming |
93% |
92% |
| W Tennis |
93% |
92% |
| W Track/Cross Country |
89% |
84% |
| W Volleyball |
94% |
88% |
| 2015-18 Student-Athlete Academic Success Rates: Division II Conferences |
| Conference |
Enrolled |
Graduated |
Rate |
| Sunshine State Conference |
4,191 |
3,738 |
89 |
| Northeast-10 Conference |
4,789 |
4,168 |
87 |
| East Coast Conference |
2,094 |
1,778 |
85 |
| Pacific West Conference |
2,942 |
2,459 |
84 |
| Great Northwest Athletic Conference |
2,616 |
2,164 |
83 |
| Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference |
7,673 |
6,347 |
83 |
| Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference |
5,911 |
4,849 |
82 |
| Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference |
2,859 |
2,331 |
82 |
| Great Lakes Valley Conference |
6,540 |
5,329 |
81 |
| Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference |
3,891 |
3,095 |
80 |
| Peach Belt Conference |
2,224 |
1,723 |
77 |
| Great Midwest Athletic Conference |
5,632 |
4,327 |
77 |
| Gulf South Conference |
4,486 |
3,433 |
77 |
| California Collegiate Athletic Association |
3,756 |
2,858 |
76 |
| Conference Carolinas |
5,956 |
4,416 |
74 |
| South Atlantic Conference |
6,022 |
4,373 |
73 |
| Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association |
6,029 |
4,337 |
72 |
| Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference |
6,121 |
4,400 |
72 |
| Mountain East Conference |
4,222 |
2,992 |
71 |
| Great American Conference |
4,902 |
3,392 |
69 |
| Lone Star Conference |
6,307 |
4,339 |
69 |
| Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association |
2,914 |
1,880 |
65 |
| Independent |
827 |
515 |
62 |
| Southern Intercol. Ath. Conf. |
3,597 |
2,233 |
62 |