RIVERSIDE, Calif. – California Baptist University was one of 26 Division II member schools honored as part of the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence program for achieving four-year Academic Success Rates of 90 percent or higher.
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. This is the sixth year of the Presidents’ Award for Academic Excellence program.
This past year, CBU boasted its highest Academic Success Rate at 92-percent and highest department grade point average at 3.241. CBU’s women’s volleyball team boasted the highest GPA with a 3.809 over the year (3.864 in the spring). Men’s golf had the highest men’s year GPA with a 3.276, while men’s basketball won the spring with a 3.261.
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 71 percent for Division II student-athletes who entered college from 2006 through 2009.
Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2009 entering class of student-athletes was 56 percent, compared with 49 percent for the general student body.