The LSU Graduation Success Rate reached an all-time high at 84 percent in 2015, according to a report released by the NCAA.
The Graduation Success Rate measures student-athlete success, as defined by graduation. The model was implemented by the NCAA in 2005 for every Division I school in the nation.
Kenneth Miles, assistant vice chancellor for Academic Affairs and executive director of the Cox Communications Academic Center for Student-Athletes, said his goal for 2015 was to increase the university’s overall GSR by 2 percent. The report shows the university’s GSR increased by 3 percent since 2014.
Men’s golf, men’s tennis, women’s golf, gymnastics, women’s tennis and volleyball all achieved a GSR of 100 percent, according to the report. Men’s swimming and diving, women’s basketball, women’s track and cross country and women’s swimming and diving achieved a GSR above 90 percent.
The GSR considers students who enroll in the middle of the year, as well as those who transfer to other universities. It covers only student-athletes who have financial aid or grants, meaning walk-ons are not necessarily included in the number.
“That’s why people within athletics like the GSR. It gives a little more of an accurate depiction of graduation rates,” Miles said.
While the GSR is a standard measurement across the board, the ways in which universities maintain and increase their respective retention rates differ. Miles said he attributes the university’s high retention rate for student-athletes to a few different factors.
“I would say it’s personnel, programming and the collaborative vision of everyone that goes in with the retention rates,” Miles said.
Miles said he credits the success to the facility, the academic center’s ability to operate transparently and relationships beyond the academic center.
“The compassion and commitment of the people that work in it definitely is one of those intangibles that add to the change in culture,” he said.
The Cox Academic Center has a strategic plan in place to help maintain and increase retention rates, Miles said.
“The model that we have here is based on higher education’s research,” Miles said. “[You have to be] able to define or dictate what that future looks like, which is why I said our strategic plan became important within that.”
The current strategic plan expires in 2017. Miles said the academic center is already evaluating its success and defining the goals and objectives of the next plan.
“I believe it’s important to define what it’s going to end up looking like and creating a plan to make that happen,” he said.