THE FLATS – For the second-straight year, Georgia Tech athletics set a new all-time record by posting a 91% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA on Tuesday.
The Yellow Jackets’ 91% GSR tops its previous all-time high of 90%, set just last year. Prior to 2016, Georgia Tech had never achieved a GSR above 85%.
In addition to reaching an all-time high as a department, nine of Tech’s 13 teams* – men’s cross country/track & field, women’s cross country/track & field, football, golf, softball, men’s swimming & diving, women’s swimming & diving, men’s tennis and volleyball – all have individual team GSRs that are at or above than the national average in their respective sports. Leading the way are golf, softball, men’s tennis and volleyball, which all have a perfect 100% graduation success rate.
“Congratulations to our student-athletes, coaches and staff on this outstanding achievement,” Georgia Tech director of athletics J Batt said. “Earning a Georgia Tech degree is the No. 1 objective for all Tech students, and for our student-athletes to do so at a record rate is a testament to their hard work and to the support of the network that surrounds them, both within the athletics department and on campus.”
GSR measures the success of an athletics department in graduating its student-athletes within a six-year period. Unlike Federal Graduation Rate, which assesses only first-time, full-time freshmen, GSR also includes transfer students and mid-year enrollees in the sample. Student-athletes who leave an institution while in good academic standing before exhausting athletics eligibility are removed from the cohort of their initial institution (essentially passed to another squad’s GSR cohort if they transfer and removed altogether in the case of early departures for professional careers). The GSR provides a more complete and accurate look at actual student-athlete success by taking into account the full variety of participants in Division I athletics and tracking their academic outcomes.
The latest GSR cohort includes student-athletes that enrolled at Georgia Tech from 2012-15.
GEORGIA TECH NCAA GRADUATION SUCCESS RATES (since the NCAA began publishing GSR in 2004-05)
2004-05: 67%
2005-06: 69%
2006-07: 69%
2007-08: 70%
2008-09: 71%
2009-10: 75%
2010-11: 78%
2011-12: 76%
2012-13: 79%
2013-14: 81%
2014-15: 84%
2015-16: 87%
2016-17: 88%
2017-18: 89%
2018-19: 88%
2019-20: 89%
2020-21: 90%
2021-22: 91%
GEORGIA TECH NCAA GRADUATION SUCCESS RATES BY SPORT (2021-22)
Sport GSR National Average Golf 100% 90% Softball 100% 94% Men's Tennis 100% 93% Volleyball 100% 95% Men's Swimming & Diving 97% 91% Women's Swimming & Diving 97% 96% Women's Cross Country/Track & Field 94% 91% Women's Basketball 91% 93% Football 88% 82% Women's Tennis 88% 97% Men's Cross Country/Track & Field 84% 84% Baseball 83% 87% Men's Basketball 75% 84%
* cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field are compiled as one sport for Graduation Success Rate purposes
Competitive Drive Initiative
In a unified endeavor, Georgia Tech, the Georgia Tech Foundation, Georgia Tech athletics and the Alexander-Tharpe Fund have come together to accelerate funding for student-athlete scholarships with the launch of the Competitive Drive Initiative. The initiative kicks off with the Accelerate GT Match Program, where any new gift to the A-T Fund’s Athletic Scholarship Fund made through Dec. 31 will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Georgia Tech Foundation, up to $2.5 million. Should Accelerate GT reach its $2.5 million fundraising goal, the matching gift would result in a $5 million impact for Georgia Tech athletics. To learn more and to contribute online, visit atfund.org/accelerate.
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