TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University athletic department earned a 90% graduation success rate (GSR) in the latest Division I (DI) graduation rate data, continuing its strong success in the classroom as one of the top academic athletic departments in the country.
Towson's 90% GSR is the highest among all DI University System of Maryland (USM) institutions and is up two percent from the previous year. Towson is also tied at the top among the USM DI schools with a 68% federal graduation rate, also up two percent from the previous report.
One of Towson's primary strategic themes is Student-Athlete Academic Success. Towson is earning strong marks in the classroom, including 18 of 19 sports having a 3.0 or better team grade point average (GPA) after the spring 2020 semester.
The latest GSR report details cohorts from 2010-13.
Five Towson teams earned a perfect 100 GSR from the 2010-13 GSR report: field hockey, men's golf, women's lacrosse, men's swimming & diving and women's tennis. Six other teams notched a GSR between 90-95%.
Baseball, men's golf, field hockey, women's lacrosse, men's swimming & diving and women's tennis all stand in the top-3 in their respective sports in GSR among Colonial Athletic Association institutions.
The Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in response to Division I college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students than the federal graduation rate. The federal rate counts any student who leaves a school as an academic failure, no matter whether he or she enrolls at another school. Also, the federal rate does not recognize students who enter school as transfer students.
The GSR formula removes from the rate student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes student-athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere. This calculation makes it a more complete and accurate look at student-athlete success. The federal graduation rate, however, remains the only measure to compare student-athletes with the general student body.
