The NCAA has released the latest Division II graduation rate data, including the division's Academic Success Rate (ASR), which held good news for Chestnut Hill College.

The Chestnut Hill College athletic programs recorded an overall academic success rate of 89% for the four-year cohort of 2011-2014.  This rate places the Griffins among the top 15% among all active member NCAA Division II schools in the nation and fifth among the 13 Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) schools.

The Chestnut Hill College athletic program has been submitting ASR data to the NCAA since 2008-09.  In the 12-year span from 2009-2021, the Griffins have compiled an average ASR of 86%.
 
A total of five Chestnut Hill College sport programs produced a 100% academic success rate, the second highest total among all 13 conference schools.

Amongst the conference sport programs, the women's tennis and men's golf programs were one of only three programs in their respective sport within the conference to record a 100% rate. 
 
The women's softball, lacrosse and volleyball teams also produced a 100% academic success rate.  The women's lacrosse team was one of five CACC women's lacrosse teams posting a 100% rate while thew softball  and volleyball teams were one of six and eight  CACC teams in their respective sport to post a perfect 100 score.

In addition, three men's programs were ranked among the top three teams in the conference in their respective sports.  The men's lacrosse team was second among conference schools with an 89% ASR while the men's basketball team (94%) and tennis team (89%) were third among CACC men's basketball and tennis teams.
 
The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students into account and removes likely transfers-out who left the school in good academic standing. In addition, given the partial scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 31,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who were enrolled in the four years covered in the most recent data -- the national ASR score of 76 percent is for student-athletes who entered college from 2011 through 2014.
 
Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal graduation rate, Division II student-athletes still out-performed the general student body by eight percent. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes increased by one point to 60 percent, while the general student body also increased by one point to 52 percent.