Oct. 2, 2007

Two NCAA academic success measures -- the Federal Graduation Rate and the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) -- will be released this week.

The federal graduation rate measures the percentage of first-time, full-time student-athletes who enrolled in fall 2000, received athletics related aid, and completed a degree within six years. The federal rate does not take into account freshmen student-athletes who entered UTEP mid-year, transferred into UTEP and graduated, or transferred out and graduated at another institution. The Federal Graduation Rate for UTEP student-athletes is 46 percent, compared to 29 percent for the general student body.

The most accurate reflection of student-athlete academic success, as reported in the Federal Graduation Rate report, is the graduation rate of student-athletes who have exhausted their eligibility. The student-athletes who enrolled at UTEP between the fall of 1991 and 2000, and exhausted their NCAA eligibility, graduated at a 76 percent rate, up from 70 percent in 2005.

The GSR (Graduation Success Rate) measures the four-class average graduation rate of first-time freshmen enrolling in the fall of 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000, and includes student-athletes who enrolled mid-year as well as those who transferred into UTEP and subsequently graduated. In addition, the GSR subtracts student-athletes who transferred out provided they left UTEP academically eligible. UTEP's GSR has improved from 42 percent in 2005 to 51 percent in 2007.

A third academic success measure, the Academic Progress Rate (APR), will be released in the Spring of 2008. While the Federal Graduation Rate and the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) measure academic success of student-athletes entering from 1997 through 2000, the APR is an evaluation of the academic standing of current sports programs.

"The steady increase in our graduation success rates can be attributed to the institution's ongoing commitment to the academic success of our student-athletes, including the newly renovated Miner Athlete Academic Center which provides academic support services to all UTEP student-athletes," said Heather Smith, Director of the Miner Athlete Academic Center (MAAC). "We will continue to strive to meet our goal of graduating all of our student-athletes."