THE FLATS – Georgia Tech athletics set a new all-time record by posting a 90% NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) in the latest data released by the NCAA on Thursday.
The Yellow Jackets’ 90% GSR tops its previous all-time high of 89%, set in 2018 and 2020. 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 higher 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.
“I’m so proud of our student-athletes, coaches and staff for their commitment to the ultimate goal of being a student at Georgia Tech, which is to earn one of the most prestigious degrees in the world,” Georgia Tech director of athletics Todd Stansbury said. “It’s also important to note that our most successful year ever in terms of graduation success came in the same year that we also achieved our highest level of athletic success in more than a decade, with a 44th-place finish in the Directors’ Cup standings. It just proves that Georgia Tech is home to some of the most accomplished student-athletes in the nation. I couldn’t be more proud and grateful of our student-athletes, as well as the coaches and staff that work so hard to develop the young people who will change the world.”
Georgia Tech’s all-time record for NCAA Graduation Success Rate comes on the heels of the Yellow Jackets’ 44th-place finish in the 2020-21 Directors’ Cup standings, which is the nation’s most-recognized all-sports ranking for college athletics. The 44th-place finish was the Jackets’ best since they placed 31st in 2004-05 and their third-best finish since the Directors’ Cup’s inception in 1993-94 (Tech also placed 31st in 2003-04). Georgia Tech was one of only two institutions that fields as few as 17 sports to finish among the Directors’ Cup top 50 in 2020-21 (joining Texas Tech, which also has 17 teams and placed 43rd).
The 44th-place Directors’ Cup finish also represents a remarkable turnaround for Georgia Tech under the watch of Stansbury. Just three years ago (2017-18), Tech only had three teams that earned Directors’ Cup points and placed 121st in the final standings.
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 2011-14.
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%
GEORGIA TECH NCAA GRADUATION SUCCESS RATES BY SPORT (2020-21)
Sport: GSR (National Average)
Golf: 100% (91%)
Softball: 100% (93%)
Men’s Tennis.: 100% (93%)
Volleyball: 100% (94%)
Women’s Cross Country/Track & Field: 97% (91%)
Men’s Swimming & Diving: 97% (91%)
Women’s Swimming & Diving: 97% (97%)
Women’s Basketball: 90% (92%)
Women’s Tennis: 88% (96%)
Men’s Cross Country/Track & Field: 85% (84%)
Football: 85% (80%)
Baseball: 70% (86%)
Men’s Basketball: 64% (84%)
* cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field are compiled as one sport for Graduation Success Rate purposes
Alexander-Tharpe Fund
The Alexander-Tharpe Fund is the fundraising arm of Georgia Tech athletics, providing scholarship, operations and facilities support for Georgia Tech’s 400-plus student-athletes. Be a part of developing Georgia Tech’s Everyday Champions and helping the Yellow Jackets compete for championships at the highest levels of college athletics by supporting the Annual Athletic Scholarship Fund, which directly provides scholarships for Georgia Tech student-athletes. To learn more about supporting the Yellow Jackets, visit atfund.org.
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