THIBODAUX ā ¹ū¶³APPās student athletes are graduating at some of the highest rates in the state and the Southland Conference, according to statistics released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association.
The graduation success rate report shows that 73 percent of ¹ū¶³APP student athletes who began college in 2006 earned their degrees within six years. Thatās an all-time high for ¹ū¶³APP and a five-point increase over last yearās rate.
āThe ¹ū¶³APP community is proud of the outstanding graduation rate for our athletes when compared to our peers,ā said ¹ū¶³APP Interim President Larry Howell. āIt indicates the true mission of a regional university and its athletics programs ā recruit academically prepared athletes and give them support to progress to their main goal ā graduation. It not only shows the dedication of our student athletes and coaches, but the efforts of our faculty and members of our staff to strive toward that goal.ā
Among Louisianaās 11 public universities with Division I athletics, ¹ū¶³APP has the fourth highest overall graduation success rate. ¹ū¶³APP also ranks fourth overall among 14 Southland Conference universities, and ranks first among Southland Conference schools in Louisiana.
Designed to more accurately predict the academic success of athletes, the graduation success rate measures the proportion of student athletes who graduate and includes incoming transfer students, a regular occurrence in college athletics, in its calculations.
When broken down by individual sport, ¹ū¶³APP reported the highest graduation rate success and ranked top in the state and the Southland Conference in womenās tennis, with 100 percent of student athletes graduating. ¹ū¶³APP also ranked first in the state for the success of its softball (95 percent) and menās tennis (83 percent) graduates. Among Southland schools, ¹ū¶³APP ranks first in football (68 percent) and second in menās basketball (83 percent). Additionally, several of these Colonel teams showed significant improvement over their previous performance. Menās basketball increased its graduation success rate by 12 points from 71 percent, and footballās graduation success rate increased by 7 points from 61 percent.
For more information on GSRs, visit web1.ncaa.org/GSRSearch
