Nov. 9, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland posted a school-record federal graduation rate of 76 percent for the freshman class of 1999-2000, and the graduation success rate was also 76 percent, per figures released Thursday by the NCAA.

The federal rate measures those scholarship student-athletes who entered college in the fall of 1999 and who graduated within a six-year window. Last year, Maryland's federal graduation rate hit 70 percent for the first time. The latest all-time high figure continues the upward trend of graduation rates through the last 14 years.

In addition, the NCAA's measure of graduation success rate (GSR), which eliminates those who transferred out of an institution in good academic standing and adds those on aid who transferred in, was compiled for the second straight year at 76 percent.

The new rates are comparable to the federal graduation rate for the entire Maryland student body, which also reached an all-time high of 77 percent.

Academic Progress Rates (APRs) for the 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06 years are tentatively scheduled to be released in May 2007, according to the NCAA.

The exhausted-eligibility rate, reflecting the percentage of scholarship student-athletes who used all their athletics eligibility at the institution and who graduated within six years, was 86 percent. It is the eighth consecutive year and the 10th time in the last 11 years the exhausted-eligibility rate has been at least 82 percent.

"Our goal is to consistently have graduation rates at 70 percent or higher for our student-athletes," said director of athletics Deborah A. Yow. "Congratulations are in order to our coaches, student-athletes and our Academics Support Unit for setting a new graduation record."