On Wednesday, November 20th, the NCAA Division II announced that the Sunshine State Conference once again leads the nation in Academic Success Rate. SSC member institutions and student-athletes earned a record-breaking 90 percent ASR, besting the conference’s and NCAA’s all-time high of 89 percent achieved in 2023.

The SSC repeats as the top NCAA Division II conference in Academic Success rate. Through the 19-year history of the ASR, the SSC has never ranked below second.

SSC student-athletes outpaced all national averages when compared sport-by-sport. Additionally, the SSC scored above the NCAA Division II average of 77 percent in 18 of 18 sports. Twelve sports achieved an ASR above 90 percent, with women’s lacrosse leading the way at 99 percent. Men’s tennis, women’s swimming, women’s golf, and women’s volleyball followed closely behind at 96 percent.

Female student-athletes in the SSC improved their Academic Success Rate by one percentage point to 95 percent, besting the Division II national average that remained at 88 percent. SSC male student-athletes also improved by one percentage point, up to 85 percent, sitting well above the Division II national average, which held at 69 percent.

NCAA Division II developed ASR in 2006 at the request of institution presidents. Since its inception, 291 SSC student-athletes earned CSC/CoSIDA Academic All-America honors a total of 349 times. Athletically, member institutions have combined for 67 team national championships and 110 individual national titles.

About the Academic Success Rate

Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial college enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletic scholarships.

The Division II ASR also captures about 40 percent more college athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the Federal Graduation Rate, the ASR also counts student-athletes who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere and removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible. The national ASR is 77 percent for student-athletes who entered college from 2014 through 2017.

Regardless of which measure is used, Division II college athletes graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2017 entering class of student-athletes was 59 percent, compared to 53 percent for the general student body.