CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – Southeast Missouri's Department of Athletics achieved another huge milestone, this time breaking records in both Federal Graduation and Graduation Success Rate.
 
SEMO accumulated a 69% Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) and 88% Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for the 2013-14 to 2016-17 freshman cohorts as part of the annual NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program released Wednesday. Athletics' FGR is 13% higher than SEMO's overall student body.
 
"Our student-athletes continue to set the standard. The graduation success of our student-athletes is a testament to their hard work and dedication and demonstrates the commitment from our coaches, faculty and staff to support these student-athletes throughout their academic journey," said SEMO Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics Brady Barke.
 
Prior to this year, SEMO's highest FGR was 68% in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Its previous high in GSR was 87% during the 2014-15 academic year.

NCAA legislation requires member schools to report enrollment (of both student body and student-athletes receiving athletics aid) and student body and student-athlete graduation rates to the NCAA each year. The NCAA then publishes reports on behalf of the member schools to comply with federal reporting requirements.

The student-athlete graduation rate calculated directly based on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Graduation Rates Survey, which is the methodology the U.S. Department of Education requires, is the proportion of first-year, full-time student-athletes who entered a school on athletics aid and graduated from that institution within six years. This federal rate does not account for students who transfer from their original college or university and graduate elsewhere; they are considered nongraduates at both the college they left and the one from which they eventually graduate.
 
NCAA members, particularly presidents and chancellors, asked the NCAA in the early 2000s to develop a measure of student-athlete graduation success that more accurately reflects modern-day patterns of student enrollment and transfer. As a result, the NCAA created the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for Division I.

The NCAA GSR differs from the federal calculation in two important ways. First, the GSR holds colleges accountable for those student-athletes who transfer to their school. Second, the GSR does not penalize colleges whose student-athletes leave the institution in good academic standing.