INDIANAPOLIS – The Sunshine State Conference has achieved an 86-percent Academic Success Rate (ASR) for the 10th consecutive year, ranking second among the 23 NCAA Division II conferences in 2019-20. Through the 15-year history of the ASR, the SSC has never ranked below second.
All 18 league sports scored above the NCAA Division II average of 74-percent, with 17 sports earning rates at 80-percent or higher. Eleven sports achieved an ASR or 90-percent or better, including women’s tennis and women’s golf, which led the SSC at 99-percent and 95-percent, respectively.
Females in the SSC retained an Academic Success rate of 92-percent from the last ASR release, while the males improved one point to 83-percent. The SSC’s percentages sit well above the Division II national averages of 87-percent for women and 66-percent for men.
Since the inception of the NCAA Division II Academic Success Rate, 202 SSC student-athletes earned CoSIDA Academic All-America honors a total of 241 times. Athletically, member institutions have won a combined 51 team and 75 individual national titles.
About the Academic Success Rate
Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial college enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships.
The Division II ASR also captures about 45-percent more college athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal graduation rate, the ASR also counts student-athletes who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere and removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. The national ASR is 73-percent for student-athletes who entered college from 2010 through 2013.
Regardless of which measure is used, Division II college athletes graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2013 entering class of student-athletes was 62-percent, compared to 53-percent for the general student body.
Academic Success Rate Ranking By NCAA Division II Conference
Northeast-10 Conference – 89%
Sunshine State Conference – 86%
Great Lakes Valley Conference – 83%
Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference- 82%
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference- 81%
East Coast Conference- 80%
Great Midwest Athletic Conference – 79%
Great Northwest Athletic Conference – 79%
Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference – 79%
Pacific West Conference – 79%
Conference Carolinas – 75%
Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – 75%
Peach Belt Conference – 73%
California Collegiate Athletic Association – 72%
South Atlantic Conference – 70%
Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference – 69%
Gulf South Conference – 68%
Lone Star Conference – 67%
Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association – 67%
Independent – 66%
Mountain East Conference – 66%
Great American Conference – 65%
Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association – 62%
Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference – 58%