BATON ROUGE – For the third consecutive year, LSU’s numbers in the Graduation Success Rate as reported by the NCAA remained at an all-time high for the university with a score of 84.
LSU’s score of 84 is three points better than the school’s previous high of 81 set in 2013 and 2014. The score also continues the trend that has seen LSU’s GSR score improve, or remain same, since the inception of the report in 2005.
Since taking over at LSU in 2008, vice chancellor and director of athletics Joe Alleva has put a premium on success in the classroom for LSU student-athletes and the results have been impressive. LSU’s 15 percent improvement in the GSR since 2008 ranks as one of the best improvements in the Southeastern Conference during that span.
Under Alleva, LSU has seen its GSR scores rise from 69 percent in 2008 to 84 percent in 2015. LSU’s first GSR score in 2005 was 67 percent.
“This report indicates that our mission of educating and graduating our student-athletes is stronger than ever,” Alleva said. “Our focus has always been to prepare our student-athletes for the rest of their lives and graduation is critical in that process.
“It’s our goal that every student-athlete who comes to LSU leave with a degree and be given every opportunity to have success in the classroom, in competition and be contributors in the community. We are proud of what our student-athletes are accomplishing in the classroom and in competition.”
Six sports led LSU with perfect scores of 100 – men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s tennis and volleyball. Additionally, LSU had four other sports record scores of 90 or higher led by men’s swimming and diving at 96, followed by women’s swimming and diving (95), women’s basketball (92) and women’s track and field (92).
Other LSU sports with scores in the 80-89 percent range include: women’s soccer (86) and baseball (83).
“It is with tremendous pride that our commitment to our student-athletes and our successes from that are highlighted by our increased graduation success rates,” LSU assistant vice chancellor for academic affairs and executive director of the Cox Communications Academic Center Kenneth Miles said. “We have six teams that scored a perfect 100 percent and our overall graduate success rates has increased by three percentage points to 84 percent, another all-time high.
“We are extremely proud of our accomplishments and look forward to building more scholar-athletes. We remind them daily that they must enter to learn and that they must leave to serve; it is not a requirement, but it is our obligation.”
The NCAA developed the Graduation Success Rate to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The rate holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport.
Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. The outgoing transfers are included in the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.
The most recent Division I Graduation Success Rates are based on the four entering classes from 2004-2005 through 2007-08. The NCAA began compiling these figures with the entering freshmen class of 1995.