INDIANAPOLIS - The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR), which held good news for Augustana and Augustana athletics.  
 
Augustana's student-athlete academic success rate stood at 91 percent for the 2016-17 freshman cohort. By being above 90 percent, Augustana has received the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence.
 
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 takes transfer students into account and removes likely transfers-out who left the school in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 30,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data.
 
Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes outperform the general student body by 7%. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes remained the same at 60%, while the general student body also remained the same at 53%.
 
At the NCAA Convention in January 2014, the Division II membership approved a legislative package intended to increase student-athlete success and graduation rates. The package addresses a variety of academic standards, and includes adjustments to eligibility standards, progress-toward-degree requirements and standards for transfers from two-year colleges. This is the fourth academic year in which all of these requirements are in effect.