Indianapolis, Ind. — According to the NCAA official federal graduation rate data released on Wednesday, Lobo student-athletes set new all-time records for both graduation and graduation success rates. New Mexico athletics graduated 66% of all student-athletes who enrolled as freshmen during the 2008-09 academic year, improving on the 55% achieved last year and besting the previous all-time high of 61% achieved in 2011. The school also scored a 79% Graduation Success Rate which beat the program’s previous high of 76%, achieved in both 2010 and 2014.
The 66% single-year high was 18 points higher than the university’s graduation rate as a whole, which was 48%. That 48% mark for the university also tied the highest mark in school history for the institution which was set in 2014.
The NCAA also released the graduation success rate scores (GSR) for all Division I schools, and UNM had several programs achieve record high scores. Women’s basketball had a 100% GSR for a sixth straight season and football and baseball scored at 65% and 79% respectively—those marks being the highest for either program in the history of GSR scores. Men’s basketball improved on the all-time high 64% GSR set by the program last year jumping to 80% this year. Overall, female student-athletes had an 87% GSR, and male student-athletes had a 73% GSR, with the men’s number being a program high.
The federal graduation rate differs slightly from the NCAA’s graduation success rate. The federal rate is the percentage of first-time, full-time freshmen that graduate from the institution within six years. The NCAA graduation success rate factors in transfer students, whether transferring into the institution or out in good academic standing.
The Graduation Success Rate, along with the Academic Progress Rate or APR, was a part of former NCAA President Myles Brand’s initiative to raise the academic standards and profiles for Division I institutions.
The 79% UNM GSR is the sixth straight year that the university has scored a 74% or better; the school scored a 76% in 2010, 74% in 2011, a 75% in 2012, a 74% in 2013 and a 76% in 2014.
The department has seen a solid rise in the GSR since it was instituted in 2005; UNM scored a 59% in that first year. Athletics has also seen a significant increase in the student-athlete federal graduation rate over the last ten years with the 66% recorded this year nearly doubling the 37% rates recorded in 2006.
“While we have many goals, our number one mission is the graduation our student-athletes,” said Paul Krebs. “Our commitment to the academic success of our student-athletes is well documented. The numbers released by the NCAA are great, but we will continue to work to improve them.”
“Having one of the top academic facilities in the country in the Lobo Center for Student-Athlete Success, and the work of Dr. Henry Villegas and his staff, are difference-makers in the successes of our student-athletes.”
“The high student-athlete graduation rates are a testament to a true team effort with student-athletes, coaches and academic support staff working together toward the ultimate goal of college which is the successful achievement of a college degree” said Dr. Henry Villegas, who heads the Lobo Center for Student-Athlete Success. “We are extremely proud of our student-athletes who continue to see their hard work in the classroom and fields of competition pay off in achieving such important and meaningful success.”
Notes: Student-athletes established an all-time high 58% four class average Federal Graduation Rate…female student-athletes set a record 80% Federal Graduation Rate.
NCAA Releases 2015 Graduation Rates
