INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – While the Anderson University are posting historic seasons on the court and field, their commitment to the student portion of the student-athlete continues to shine as the Trojans were ranked second in the South Atlantic Conference in Academic Success Rate (ASR) while increasing their Federal Graduation Rate (FGR) year-over-year for the tenth straight year according to the data released by the NCAA this week.
"Anderson University is known for its academic rigor, and we are thankful for the opportunity to learn and train under such distinguished faculty," said Vice President for Athletics Dr. Bert Epting. "This university has been built on academics and as an athletic department, we value excellence both in and out of competition. We are so proud of our student-athletes and how they balance great academics with their sport."
Anderson sits second in the conference in ASR with a posted 81%, five percentage points above the national average for Division II student-athletes. The ASR is a metric established by the NCAA in 2006 to better track the six-year success rates of student-athletes on campuses. While the FGR only tracks those student-athletes that started at a single institution and only counts those who are receiving academic aid, the ASR includes transfer and mid-year enrollees as well as those student-athletes who are not receiving athletic aid.
The Trojans' men's teams posted a 75% ASR while the women's squads turned in a 90% ASR. Both of those figures are above the national averages with the men sitting six points above the average while the women are just two points above. Historically the Trojans started in 1999 with the first tracked ASR with 53% and have steadily risen, with only two drops over the 18-year history of tracking the value. This year's 81% is the highest mark the Trojans have ever recorded and the first year that they have eclipsed the 80% mark.
Anderon's FGR has also seen a steady increase since the institution's lowest mark with the 2006 cohort and has seen an increase of 12% points over the past ten years.
From a sport perspective, the Anderson golf teams lead all sports on campus in both ASR and FGR for both the men's and women's teams. The men's squad has a 100% ASR and a 91% FGR while the women's team posted perfect 100%s in both metrics.
"From our coaches to our administration, we understand the importance a college degree has for the future of our student-athletes, and we will continue to work hard to ensure success is not only experienced in competition, but also in the classroom," continued Epting.
"We truly believe we have one of the best academic environments in the nation here at AU and we are blessed by the investment our faculty and staff make in preparing and training our student-athletes to be leaders as they prepare for life after graduation."
As mentioned above, FGR is calculated by taking the total number of graduates from the first-time full-time enrollees in the reported academic year that received athletic aid and dividing that by the total number of those enrollees. ASR is calculated using all enrollees including transfers, mid-year enrollees and non-scholarship student-athletes. This latest report was for the cohort of student athletes that were first enrolled full-time in the 2016-17 academic year and uses statistics over a six-year period.
