BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech Athletics continues to earn high marks academically as the department recorded an overall Graduation Success Rate of 92% in a report released by the NCAA, Wednesday afternoon.
The NCAA developed the formula for its Graduation Success Rate, or GSR, metric as part of its 2003 academic reform initiatives to better measure student-athlete academic success. It differs from the federal graduation rate in several ways, most notably by not penalizing schools that have transfers who depart in good academic standing and by counting transfers who enroll into a school in good academic standing. The GSR also takes into account the academic standing of mid-year enrollees, whereas the federal formula does not.
The NCAA's GSR metric allows student-athletes six years to earn their degrees. This year's rate is based on the average of student-athletes who enrolled in 2015, 2016, 2017 and the most recent data of 2018, and graduated within six years following their enrollment.
For the tenth consecutive year, Virginia Tech's overall GSR was at least 90 percent, and the athletics department has been at or above that threshold in 11 of the past 13 years.
Eight Virginia Tech sports recorded a perfect GSR of 100 – men's basketball, men's tennis, women's cross country and track & field, women's golf, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and women's tennis. The women's tennis program has recorded a 100 percent score ever since the NCAA went to the GSR formula.
Four other Virginia Tech sports finished with a GSR of at least 90%. The list consists of men's cross country and track & field (91), men's swimming (97), lacrosse (94) and volleyball (91).
For those interested in reading more about the NCAA and the latest GSR report, please click HERE.
