Nov. 22, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Notre Dame ranks among the top five NCAA Division I-A institutions in five major graduation rate categories — all student-athletes, football players, male student-athletes, female student-athletes and African-American student-athletes — according to statistics released this week by the NCAA.
The 2000 NCAA Graduation-Rates Report, the 10th-such survey issued by the association, covers students who enrolled between 1990 and 1993 at 321 Division I institutions, including 114 in Division I-A. The NCAA bases graduation rates on the raw percentage of student-athletes who entered an institution and graduated within six years. Students who leave or transfer, regardless of academic standing, are considered nongraduates.
Using the NCAA formula, Notre Dame graduated a four-year average of 89 percent of its student-athletes, third only to Northwestern and Duke Universities at 92 and 91 percent, respectively. (Among student-athletes who complete all four years of athletic eligibility at Notre Dame, i.e., not considering those who leave or transfer, 99 percent earn their degrees.) The national average for Division I-A schools is 58 percent.
Notre Dame football players graduated at an 82 percent rate, the highest percentage among the 15 institutions rated in this week’s Bowl Championship Series rankings. Among all Division I-A institutions, the football graduation rate for Notre Dame is third only to Northwestern at 88 percent and Stanford University at 83 percent.
Notre Dame graduated 94 percent of all women competing in varsity athletics, second only to Northwestern at 98 percent. Among men, Notre Dame’s 87 percent rate is fourth behind Duke and Northwestern at 90 percent and Stanford at 88 percent.
Notre Dame graduated 81 percent of its African-American student-athletes, ranking behind only Northwestern, Duke, Vanderbilt University and Stanford.
Here are the top five institutions in each of the five categories:
| ALL STUDENT-ATHLETES | FOOTBALL PLAYERS |
| 1. Northwestern 92% | 1. Northwestern 88% |
| 2. Duke 91% | 2. Stanford 83% |
| 3. Notre Dame 89% | 3. Notre Dame 82% |
| Stanford 89% | 4. Boston College 78% |
| 5. Boston College 83% | Vanderbilt 78% |
| MALE STUDENT-ATHLETES | FEMALE STUDENT-ATHLETES |
| 1. Duke 90% | 1. Northwestern 98% |
| Northwestern 90% | 2. Notre Dame 94% |
| 3. Stanford 88% | 3. Boston College 93% |
| 4. Notre Dame 87% | Virginia Tech 93% |
| 5. Rice 79% | Duke 93% |
AFRICAN-AMERICAN STUDENT-ATHLETES
1. Northwestern 89%
2. Vanderbilt 87%
3. Duke 86%
4. Stanford 83%
5. Notre Dame 81%