RICHMOND, Ky. – Eastern Kentucky University student-athletes are graduating at a rate of 88 percent, up from 86 percent last year and 82 percent in 2017, according to the NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) report released by the organization recently.
 
The report states Eastern Kentucky graduated 88 percent of its student-athletes who entered college in 2012 on scholarship.
 
Four EKU sports programs recorded 100 percent graduation rates:  men's cross country/track, soccer, softball and volleyball.
 
Eastern's men's basketball (92 percent) and men's cross country/track (100 percent) teams posted the highest GSR in the Commonwealth of Kentucky in those respective sports.  The softball, soccer and volleyball programs tied for the best in the Commonwealth.  A total of eight EKU sports had graduation rates in the top-4 among state institutions.
 
EKU's overall graduation rate was fourth in the 12-team Ohio Valley Conference.  The graduation rates for men's cross country/track, softball, soccer and volleyball tied for first in the OVC in those respective sports.  Men's basketball (92 percent) and football (79 percent) were third in the conference.
 
The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate.  The federal rate counts any student who leaves a school as an academic failure, no matter whether he or she enrolls at another school.  Also, the federal rate does not recognize students who enter school as transfer students.
 
The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere.  This calculation makes it a more complete and accurate look at student-athlete success.
 
The rate also allows for a deeper understanding of graduation success in individual sports than the federal metric, which provides only broad groupings.