Tulane Once Again Tops in Graduation Rates
 |  The Green Wave football team's graduation rate of 79 percent ranked 10th nationally among Division I-A teams. |
Sept. 24, 2003
NEW ORLEANS - Graduation rates for Tulane student-athletes rose for the fourth straight year as the Green Wave once again ranked among the nation's best athletics' programs in terms of graduating its student-athletes. Tulane's graduation rate for the 1996-97 freshman class of student-athletes was 79 percent, up one percent from the previous year and well above the 73 percent graduation rate recorded by all students at the school.
With a 79 percent graduation rate for all student-athletes, Tulane ranks tied for 14th nationally among Division I-A schools and was tops in Conference USA and in Louisiana. The football team's graduation rate was also at 79 percent for the 1996-97 class and ranked 10th nationally in Division I-A.
"The graduation rate of our student-athletes is something we take a lot of pride in at Tulane," said Rick Dickson, Tulane Director of Athletics. "Our coaches, staff and especially our student-athletes themselves recognize that graduation is the number one goal for each and every student-athlete who chooses Tulane. All three groups work extremely hard to make that goal become reality."
Leading the way among Green Wave teams was the Tulane women's basketball squad, which graduated all of its student-athletes from the 1996-97 class, while student-athletes in women's golf, tennis, volleyball and soccer combined to notch a 92 percent graduation rate. Women's cross country and track and field achieved an 83 percent rate while football graduated 79 percent of its student-athletes and men's basketball was at 75 percent. Figures were not released for baseball, men's cross country and track and men's tennis and golf due to the low numbers of freshmen for those years.
The Tulane football graduation rate of 79 percent put the Green Wave 10th nationally among Division I-A teams. The Wave had the top percentage of any team in Conference USA, just ahead of TCU and Southern Miss, which each posted a 75 percent mark. Among state schools, UL-Monroe ranked second in the state with a 62 percent graduation rate with Louisiana Tech at 60 percent. The national leader in football graduation rates was Boston College with a 95 percent mark.
"Our high graduation rates are a key element in making Tulane Athletics a model Division I-A program," Dickson said. "We continue to work to make our numbers even better in the future."
Graduation rates are compiled by the NCAA and reflect the number of student-athletes who graduate within six years of enrolling at a school. It does not include student-athletes who transfer to another school and graduate or student-athletes who graduate following the six-year window. Rates for each NCAA school can be found at www.ncaa.org.
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