November 17, 1998
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - The annual NCAA historical graduation rates have been announced, and once again Purdue University's student-athletes havefar surpassed the national average. The sixth annual study analyzes college students who enrolled in the four years from 1988-89 thr gh 1991-92. The NCAA has tracked the progress of these students to see if they graduate within six years of freshman enrollment.
The overall numbers show that as a collective group Purdue's student-athletes have a record breaking 70 percent graduation rate, which not only surpasses the national Division IA average of 57 percent but also improves off last year's 63 percent rate.
The Purdue male student athletes also continued to improve. Last year Purdue and Division IA were both at 54 percent, this year the report shows that Purdue's men increased to 71 percent while the Division IA average slipped to 52 percent.
Although some of the four-year averages are slow to change, Purdue saw an improvement in almost all of the categories listed including baseball, football, women's and men's track and field/cross country and men's and women's basketball.
The current Boilermaker athletes are also faring well academically. They boast a 2.83 overall G.P.A., which matches the all-school average. This past spring semester 94 achieved honors, dean's list or both; up from 85 the past year and representing 24.2 p cent of the student-athletes. Thirty had perfect 4.0 G.P.A's and 220 student-athletes, or 56.7 percent of the department, had a Spring GPA of 3.00 or higher. A record 99 student-athletes earned Academic All-Big Ten, up from 97 the previous year.
Purdue '98 NCAA Division IA Purdue '97
All Students 64% 59% 70%
All Student-Athletes 70% 57% 64%
Male Student-Athletes 64% 52% 54%
Female Student-Athletes 64% 68% 82%
Football 60% 50% 40%
Men's Basketball 75% 42% 47%
Women's Basketball 67% 66% 67%
Baseball 100% 44% 71%
Men's Track/CC 100% 56% 64%
Women's Track/CC 86% 62% 84%
Men's Other Sports 75% 59% 70%
Women's Other Sports 50% 70% 84%
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