Kansas Ties Program Record for Graduation Success Rate
LAWRENCE, Kan. – University of Kansas student-athletes continued to shine in the classroom, as the NCAA released the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for member institutions this week. Kansas posted a GSR score of 90 percent, which ties the department record, set each of the previous two years.
The most recent GSR data is based on student-athletes who entered freshmen classes from 2013 to 2016. The 90 percent success rate by Jayhawk student-athletes marks the 10th straight year that the department has posted a success rate of at least 83 percent. Kansas was one of six Big 12 institutions to earn a score of 90 or better.
The GSR was designed as an improved measurement tool for monitoring student-athletes’ academic progress leading toward graduation. It was part of the NCAA’s academic reform initiative to measure the academic success rate more accurately of Division I student-athletes.
Three Kansas programs – men’s golf, volleyball and tennis – achieved perfect GSR scores of 100 percent in the most recent report. Softball and swimming both had scores of 96, while women’s basketball (94), soccer (91), women’s cross country/track (91), baseball (88), rowing (88), women’s golf (88), football (86) and men’s cross country/track (84) were all over 80 percent.
The strong GSR score follows a record-setting semester in the classroom for KU student-athletes. In the spring of 2023, the Jayhawks combined for a department grade point average of 3.40, which established a new non-COVID era record. Eleven programs established new program records with their GPAs, while 89 student-athletes earned a 4.0 term GPA and 79 percent of student-athletes earned AD Honor Roll status. For two straight semesters now, all 16 KU programs have had a team GPA over 3.0 or the semester.
