FAYETTEVILLE — Eighty-four percent of the athletes who enrolled at the University of Arkansas between 2009-12 graduated within six years, according to an adjusted rate released by the NCAA on Thursday.
The score of 84 was Arkansas’ highest in the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate (GSR), five points higher than a year ago when the Razorbacks had an overall score of 79 and four points higher than the previous school-record of 80 recorded two years ago.
GSR is a calculation of how many athletes graduate within six academic years of college enrollment and often looks much different than federal graduation rates because of differences in how the two rates are calculated.
Unlike the federal rate, the GSR score does not penalize a university for athletes who do not graduate from there because of a transfer or to pursue a professional career, as long as the athletes leave the university in good academic standing. Also unlike the federal rate, GSR takes into consideration whether or not an athlete graduated after transferring.
The UA’s six-year federal graduation rate was 58 percent for athletes and 66 percent for all students in the latest reporting period.
The federal rate reports a 69 percent graduation rate for women and 61 percent rate for men at the UA, while the GSR reports a 92 percent rate for female athletes and 75 percent rate for male athletes at the college.
The Razorbacks’ latest overall GSR score is 24 points higher than its score of 60 in the first GSR report in 2005. After years of falling behind its SEC peers, Arkansas is beginning to rival other conference institutions in the GSR calculation.
Arkansas’ five-point jump in the latest study was tied with Auburn for the most improvement of any university in the SEC. Twelve SEC universities improved their score or remained the same as last year. Mississippi State and Texas A&M fell by one point apiece.
Vanderbilt, the conference’s only private university, had the highest overall GSR score of 97, followed by South Carolina (94), Alabama (91) and Missouri (91).
“We have continued to make measurable progress in fostering the success of our student-athletes on the path to graduation,” UA athletics director Hunter Yurachek said in a statement. “However, we still have work to do to ensure every student-athlete who exhausts his or her athletic eligibility, is also an addition to Senior Walk as a University of Arkansas graduate.”
After ranking last in the GSR among the SEC’s two most high-profile sports, football and men's basketball, Arkansas showed the league’s most improvement in football with an 11-point increase to a GSR score of 67, and second-most improvement in basketball with a 12-point increase to 62.
The football score was the highest in the program’s history and ranked 13th in the SEC, ahead of Georgia. The men's basketball score was 12th among SEC programs, ahead of Missouri and Ole Miss.
The latest GSR figures reflect the graduation status of football athletes recruited by former football coach Bobby Petrino, and who were seniors on teams coached by John L. Smith and Bret Bielema from 2012-15.
The basketball figures are for players who were recruited by former coaches John Pelphrey and Mike Anderson, and who were seniors between the 2012-13 and 2015-16 seasons.
Arkansas baseball had a score of 86, which was 11 points higher than a year ago and 21 points higher than two years ago, and tied for sixth among SEC programs. The figure reflects the rate for newcomers on the Razorbacks’ 2010-13 teams.
Five Arkansas programs - gymnastics, soccer, men’s tennis, women’s golf and volleyball - had perfect GSR scores of 100 in the latest reporting period.
Other notable scores at Arkansas include 70 for women’s basketball, 82 for women’s cross country/track and 81 for men’s cross country/track. The women’s basketball score fell seven points from a year ago, the women’s track score fell by one point and the men’s track score improved by three points.
GSR is one of two annual report cards issued by the NCAA to track academic trends in college athletics. The Academic Progress Rate (APR) is released each spring and focuses on athletes' eligibility and retention during four-year and single-year periods.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story inaccurately stated the football GSR score included players who were recruited by former coach Bret Bielema. While Bielema coached many of the players whose graduation status is reflected in this GSR score, he did not recruit them. Bielema's first class of recruits will be reflected in next year's GSR score.
ARKANSAS GSR SCORES
Gymnastics 100
Soccer 100
Men’s Tennis 100
Volleyball 100
Women’s Golf 100
Swimming/Diving 96
Softball 95
Men’s Golf 92
Baseball 86
Women’s Cross Country/Track 82
Men’s Cross Country/Track 81
Women’s Tennis 80
Women’s Basketball 70
Football 67
Men's Basketball 62
SEC OVERALL GSR SCORES
Vanderbilt 97
South Carolina 94
Alabama 91
Kentucky 91
Auburn 89
LSU 89
Missouri 89
Florida 88
Mississippi State 88
Tennessee 87
Ole Miss 86
Arkansas 84
Georgia 84
Texas A&M 82
SEC FOOTBALL GSR SCORES
Vanderbilt 95
South Carolina 92
Alabama 85
Missouri 83
Florida 79
Mississippi State 78
Kentucky 77
Tennessee 74
Auburn 76
Texas A&M 73
LSU 71
Ole Miss 69
Arkansas 67
Georgia 64
SEC MEN’S BASKETBALL GSR SCORES
Alabama 100
South Carolina 100
Vanderbilt 100
Georgia 92
Mississippi State 91
Tennessee 90
Texas A&M 88
LSU 86
Florida 82
Kentucky 75
Auburn 71
Arkansas 62
Missouri 57
Ole Miss 45
SEC BASEBALL GSR SCORES
Missouri 95
Ole Miss 95
Alabama 91
Vanderbilt 91
LSU 87
Arkansas 86
Kentucky 86
Tennessee 86
Auburn 85
Mississippi State 85
South Carolina 79
Georgia 73
Texas A&M 71
Florida 69