Indiana State University Athletics

INDIANAPOLIS – The good news surrounding Sycamore student-athletes continued this week as the NCAA released its annual Graduation Success Rate (GSR) data. Overall Indiana State's athletic department has registered an 82 percent GSR, a number that is up 22 points from four years prior and the highest in eight years.
 
After Sycamore Athletics and the Sycamore Athletic Fund raised over $153,000 in the 24-hour All In for Elevate campaign Thursday, the academic side saw good news come rolling in as eight of the 10 Indiana State intercollegiate athletic teams saw gains from a year ago and all 10 teams made improvements over the previous four years in the GSR reports.
 
"As we continue to provide the best possible experience for our student-athletes, these great numbers are going to continue to grow," Indiana State Director of Athletics Sherard Clinkscales said. "I cannot say enough about the great job that Michelle Stodden and Brooke Porter do in helping our student-athletes succeed academically. The combined academic and athletic success that we are creating starts with our coaches recruiting the right kids and holding them accountable and then we give them the tools to be successful both on the field and court of competition and in the classroom. Our focus on academic success and leadership development will allow these numbers to further grow and also promote higher retention ratesfor our student-athletes."
 
Three Indiana State programs – women's golf, women's soccer and volleyball – all registered a perfect 100 percent GSR while men's basketball (91 GSR) and women's cross country and track and field (94 GSR) registered a GSR in the 90s. All 10 teams and the overall athletics department number matched or registered well above the national Federal Graduation Rate (FGR).
 
The data released this week reflect graduation numbers among student-athletes who entered school in 2011, thus the young swimming and diving program at ISU has no reportable data. The Graduation Success Rate is a rate that accounts for transfers in and out of a school and tracks graduations over a six-year period. All transfers that leave in good academic standing are essentially passed to their next school while those who depart in poor academic standing are deemed as non-graduates.
 
A breakdown of the various Sycamore sports follows. For tracking data, the NCAA combines the numbers of cross country, indoor and outdoor track and field but separates men's and women's programs.
 
Overall Athletics: 82 GSR (FGR: 59)

• Up 22 points from four years prior
• Highest since 2003 incoming year
• Fifth-highest ever

 Baseball: 87 GSR (FGR: 47)

• Highest in program history
• Up 63 points over the previous four years

 Men's Basketball: 91 GSR (FGR: 70)

• Third-highest in program history
• Up 44 points over four years prior
• Up 58 points from six years prior

Football: 68 GSR (FGR: 54)

• Up 15 points from four years prior

 Men's Cross Country, Track & Field: 76 GSR (FGR: 54)

• Up 20 points from nine years prior
• Up five points from five years prior

 Women's Basketball: 88 GSR (FGR: 45)

• Up four points from four years prior

 Women's Cross Country, Track & Field: 94 GSR (FGR: 93)

• Fifth consecutive report year in the 90s
• Up four points from four years prior
• Up eight points from five years prior

 Women's Golf: 100 GSR (FGR: 100)

• Up 40 points from five years prior
• One of three Sycamore teams with perfect 100 GSR

 Women's Soccer: 100 GSR (FGR: 51)

• Up 36 points from four years prior
• Fifth time the program has registered a perfect 100 GSR
• One of three Sycamore teams with perfect 100 GSR

 Volleyball: 100 GSR (FGR: 50)

• Up 17 points from previous four years
• Second consecutive year with perfect 100 GSR
• Fourth time in program history with perfect 100 GSR

Earlier this year, the NCAA research department launched a tool to compare undergraduate degrees earned by college athletes with those conferred on the general student body. The Division I Diploma Dashboard also allows users to dissect data to compare contingents of student-athletes based on year of graduation, gender, race and, in some cases, sport.
 
The dashboard shows that Division I female student-athletes are about as likely to major in science, technology, engineering or math fields as their nonathlete peers. About 17 percent of female students as well as 16 percent of female student-athletes earned STEM degrees in 2016-17.
 
Additionally, as the Division I Committee on Academics has increased academic progress standards for student-athletes, those increased benchmarks have had little or no impact on the areas of study student-athletes choose to pursue. Over the past decade, the degrees awarded to student-athletes have followed similar trends to those in the student body.
 
Least surprising perhaps is the finding that college athletes are twice as likely to graduate with a degree related to athletics or fitness. In 2016-17, 6 percent of the degrees conferred to student-athletes in Division I were in fields such as kinesiology or fitness studies, compared with 3 percent of the general student body.
 
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