Clemson Athletics Registers 96% Graduation Success Rate in NCAA Release

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The Clemson Athletics Department earned a 96 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for the 2015-18 cohort in data released by the NCAA on Wednesday. The 96 percent mark is tied for the second-highest amongst public institutions alongside Alabama, Louisville, Michigan, Mississippi State, Virginia and West Virginia and trails only Cincinnati (97).

For the third-straight year, a minimum of nine Clemson programs earned perfect 100 percent scores for the cohort, one shy of the school record – baseball, men’s basketball, men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s golf, women’s soccer, women’s cross country/track, softball, and volleyball. 

It’s the 12th consecutive cohort in which Clemson’s department-wide GSR was at a 91 percent or higher, and the fifth in a row at 95 percent or higher, one of three public Power Five schools nationally to make that claim. 

Additional Notables on Clemson’s GSR: 

• Clemson’s department rate of 96 percent is second in the nation among public Power Five institutions and is seventh in the nation among all Power Five programs. 
• Volleyball maintained its streak of 21 consecutive cohorts at 100 percent.
• The softball program hit 100 percent in each of its first three counting cohorts since beginning play in 2020, while women’s golf hit 100 percent in each of its first seven counting cohorts since beginning in 2013-14.
• The men’s golf program reached double digits with 10 consecutive cohorts at 100 percent
• Men’s Basketball reached 100 percent for the eighth consecutive cohort. Clemson is one of six ACC programs in this cohort to reach 100 percent and the only ACC program with a streak of five years or more.
• Baseball reached 100 percent for the ninth consecutive cohort. 
• Football recorded a 98 and is the only FBS program to have recorded a 98 or better in each of the last three cohorts. Clemson and Harvard were the only Division I football programs to post a GSR of 98 or better in each of the three cohorts.

Overall Department Rate: 96

*tie/set program record

Women’s Sports

• Basketball: 93
• Cross Country/Track: 100*
• Rowing: 92
• Golf: 100*
• Soccer: 100*
• Softball: 100*
• Tennis: 86
• Volleyball : 100*

Men’s Sports

• Baseball: 100*
• Basketball: 100*
• Cross Country/Track: 84
• Football: 98
• Golf: 100*
• Soccer: 96
• Tennis: 100*

A note on GSR:

The student-athlete graduation rate calculated directly based on IPEDS-GRS (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. The federal rate does not account for students who transfer from their original institution and graduate elsewhere. The NCAA GSR differs from the federal calculation in two important ways. First, the GSR holds colleges accountable for those student-athletes who transfer into their school. Second, the GSR does not penalize colleges whose student-athletes transfer in good academic standing.