Links: ASR Report
NORTH ANDOVER, Mass. – The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduate rate data, and the Merrimack College Athletic Department once again was among the top schools nationwide after the data revealed the College's student-athletes achieved an Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 88 percent for the 2017-18 academic year.
Merrimack student-athletes graduated at an 88-percent clip in the latest publishing of the ASR, joining conference colleagues Assumption, Bentley Saint Michael's and Stonehill as programs that boasted 88-percent success rates or higher.
The 88-percent success figure represents one of the College's best showings in the report since the inception of the ASR over a decade ago; Merrimack has surpassed the 90-percent threshold on four previous occasions, with the Department's all-time best success rate of 92-percent coming in the 2011-12 and 2014-15 reports.
On the national level, Merrimack was tied for the 37
th-best ASR in all of Division II, up three spots from last year.
The ASR, which this year took into account the last four cohorts combined (2008-11), or the classes entering between 2008 and 2011, is in its 13th year of existence. Since 2005-06, Merrimack has posted an ASR no lower than 81 percent, and in five of those years, Warrior student-athletes' academic success rate had increased from the previous cycle.
Merrimack continued to record an ASR significantly higher than the NCAA Division II average, which this year was 73 percent. Six of Merrimack's 21 Division II programs that contributed to this year's data had a perfect 100-percent ASR in the report: field hockey, women's golf, women's rowing, softball, women's tennis and women's volleyball.
Overall, all 21 of Merrimack's Division II programs that contributed to the report posted ASRs above the NCAA Division II average, with the lowest rate being 79 percent. Baseball and men's tennis had the highest success rates on the men's side at 91 percent, while all 12 women's programs that were eligible to contribute data posted success rates of 92 percent or higher.
At the conference level, Merrimack was among 13 institutions in the top-75 of the nationwide ASR. The league was tied for first among all 24 Division II conferences (with Sunshine State) with a conference ASR of 86%.
A searchable database for ASR information and federal reports for all NCAA Division II institutions is available by visiting here.
ABOUT THE ACADEMIC SUCCESS RATE (ASR)
This is the 13th year the NCAA has released the 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, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who enrolled from 2008 through 2011, the four years covered in the most recent data. The national four-year ASR average increased one point to 73 percent overall, while the entering class of 2011 increased two points to 74 percent. Division II female student-athletes for the entering class of 2011 increased two points to 87 percent ASR. The ASR for male student-athletes also increased two points, to 66 percent. Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2011 entering class of college athletes increased one point to 57 percent, while the general student body remains at 50 percent, an overall difference of seven points. The Division II philosophy promotes a balanced experience for college athletes, as proven by the continued success athletes have compared to the overall student body.
