Vanderbilt ranks tops in SEC student-athlete graduation rates

A report released by the NCAA Sept. 26 ranks Vanderbilt University with the highest graduation rate - 88 percent - for all student athletes who enrolled the 1995-96 year. Football players entering the same year boasted a 100 percent graduation rate, along with the women’s basketball team. The men’s basketball team graduated 33 percent of the athletes who entered the same year. “We are proud of our performance once again as a national leader in graduation percentage,” said Rod Williamson, associate athletic director. “Vanderbilt is committed to the concept of the true student-athlete in every sense of the term. We want this to be a place where the best and brightest athletes test themselves daily in our great classrooms and against the finest of athletic competition." This year’s report found the 60 percent overall Division I graduation rate was the highest since the NCAA began calculating graduation rates with the entering class of 1984. Vanderbilt is trailed by Mississippi State, who graduated 62 percent overall for the class entering the 1996-96 year. The University of Tennessee graduated 55 percent overall and 8 percent of its football players.

Posted 9/30/02 at 10 a.m.