INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR) and that information shows that Missouri S&T's student-athletes are continuing to perform well in the classroom.

The national four-year ASR average for the entering class of 2011 currently stands at 73 percent, a mark exceeded by those in the S&T athletic program.

At Missouri S&T, student-athletes posted an ASR that was higher than the national average at 81 percent, eight points above the national mark.  The S&T women's soccer and softball teams, both recorded a 100 percent ASR rate, while the men's soccer and women's track & field program both exceeded the 90 percent mark and three others – baseball, swimming and volleyball – had an ASR of 85 percent or better. 

In the 13 years that the NCAA has released the Academic Success Rates data, the S&T athletic program has recorded an ASR of 80 percent or better in 12 of those years.  Missouri S&T's student-athletes are also graduating at a rate 16 percent higher than the overall student body.

Among teams in the Great Lakes Valley Conference, the softball team was one of two that hit the 100 percent mark and the women's soccer team was one of five to reach that plateau.  The men's soccer team's mark was tied for the fourth-best in the conference and the women's track program was one of seven that was over 90 percent.

This is the 13th year the NCAA has released the Division ASR. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students into account and removes students who left the institution in good academic standing. 

In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, ASR also includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes.

Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes in the 2011 entering class stands at 57 percent while the general student body is at 50 percent.

At the NCAA Convention in January 2014, the Division II membership approved a legislative package intended to increase student-athlete success and graduation rates. The package addresses a variety of academic standards and includes adjustments to eligibility standards, progress toward degree requirements and standards for transfers from two-year colleges.  The new requirements will go into effect in the fall of 2016 and 2018.

Missouri S&T currently enrolls more than 9,000 students in over 65 degree programs in engineering, science, computing and technology, business, management systems, the humanities and the liberal arts. The university has 15 accredited undergraduate engineering programs, three times the average of the number found at campuses across the United States. Missouri S&T also has 25 research centers and institutes.