Skyhawks boast 97-percent Academic Success Rate to rank fourth nationally in Division II
Stonehill's Academic Success Rate Report (PDF)
NCAA Division II Presidents' Award Announcement
NE10 Academic Success Rate Release
EASTON, Mass. (November 16, 2017) – Stonehill College has once again been recognized for its academic performance with regard to graduation rate by earning a 97-percent Academic Success Rating (ASR) as released by the NCAA, earning the NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence. The ASR considers the academic success rate of the institution based on the graduation rate of student-athletes while also giving credit for any student-athletes that transferred from the institution while in good academic standing.
"Our student-athletes continue to embrace the opportunity to excel in all areas of their collegiate experience, and the Academic Success Rating results certainly highlight that fact," said Dean O'Keefe, '94, Director of Athletics at Stonehill. "The ASR scores are a tremendous credit to our student-athletes in their continued pursuit of academic and athletic excellence, and reaffirms the collaborative work of our coaches, faculty and staff is fostering an environment for our students to think, act and lead in preparation for future success."
Stonehill, which is one of 11 institutions across Division II to receive the NCAA Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence all seven years of its existence, has boasted an ASR of 96-percent or better each of the 11 years the NCAA has released ASR numbers. The Skyhawks' 97-percent ASR for the cohort period of 2007-2010 is a one-percent improvement from last year and ranks fourth nationally and third among Northeast-10 Conference members. The NE10 leads Division II with five member institutions boasting an ASR of 90-percent or higher, with Saint Michael's College (98%), Bentley University (98%) and Assumption College (93%) joining Stonehill among the list of seven-time Presidents' Award honorees. The College of Saint Rose rounds out the NE10's Presidents' Award recipients with an ASR of 91%.
In addition to Stonehill's overall ASR of 97%, ten of Stonehill's 16 athletic programs (cross country and indoor and outdoor track & field are combined by the NCAA) received perfect scores of 100%. Those programs include baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's soccer, women's tennis, field hockey, women's lacrosse, softball and volleyball. 13 of Stonehill's programs had ASR's well above the national average, or at least matching a 100% federal rate, with none below 90%.
Stonehill won 21 NE10 Championships over the four-year cohort period ending in 2010 and received 32 NCAA Tournament bids, winning the NE10 Presidents' Cup during the 2009-10 academic year for the second time in school history for its athletic standing within the Conference.
This is the 11th year the NCAA has released the Division II 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 into account. However, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, ASR goes one step further and includes student-athletes not receiving athletic scholarships.
The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships. The Division II ASR also captures about 51 percent more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal rate, the ASR counts non-scholarship student-athletes and those who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere, while removing student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. The national ASR is 72 percent for Division II student-athletes who entered college from 2007 through 2010. Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2010 entering class of student-athletes was 56 percent, compared with 50 percent for the general student body.
With 21 intercollegiate sports, Stonehill boasts one of the top athletic and academic programs in the country. While finishing in the top three of the Northeast-10 Conference Presidents' Cup standings for overall athletic performance 13 straight years, the Skyhawks are ranked third in the National Collegiate Scouting Association (NCSA) Power Rankings for Division II used to assess the academic and athletic standards of all NCAA and NAIA athletic programs.
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NCAA Division II ASR Rankings
Top 10
Rk ASR Institution
1. 98 Point Loma Nazarene University (Calif.)
98 Saint Michael's College
98 Bentley University
4. 97 Stonehill College
97 Seattle Pacific University
97 University of the Sciences (Pa.)
7. 96 Hillsdale College (Mich.)
96 University of Indianapolis
9. 95 Thomas Jefferson University (Pa.)
95 Oakland City University (Ind.)
NCAA Division II Presidents' Award Recipients All Seven Years
Stonehill College – 97%
Bentley University – 98%
Saint Michael's College – 98%
Seattle Pacific University – 97%
University of the Sciences – 97%
Hillsdale College – 96%
University of California-San Diego – 94%
Eckerd College – 94%
Assumption College – 93%
Rockhurst University – 93%
Rollins College – 93%
Northeast-10 Conference members in italics
