INDIANPOLIS—The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division’s Academic Success Rate (ASR), which held good news for Barry University.
The national four-year ASR average increased one percentage point to 72 percent overall, while the entering class of 2004 remained steady at 73 percent.
Barry student-athletes posted an ASR of 84 percent, 12 points higher than the national average, an increase of 16.7 percent. The women’s tennis and softball teams led the way with a perfect 100 percent graduation rate. It is the fourth straight year that Barry's ASR has gone up and the sixth straight over 80 percent.
This is the sixth year the NCAA has released the Division ASR. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II’s ASR data is similar to the Division I Graduation Success Rate as it takes transfer students in account. However, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, ASR also includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 36,000 non-scholarship student-athletes.
Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes in the 2004 entering class dropped one percent to 55 percent while the general student body increased to 49 percent. This still is a difference of six percent.
Barry University enrolls more than 8,500 students, in over 100 undergraduate, graduate, professional and doctoral programs. Approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 2,600 graduate students attend classes at Barry's beautiful, subtropical Miami Shores campus. Another 2,000 working professionals attend classes at various sites throughout the state of Florida. The well-recognized Dwayne O. Andreas School of Law in Orlando, enrolls 750 students seeking their JD.