UNI STUDENT-ATHLETES RANK HIGH IN GFC GRADUATION RATES
CEDAR FALLS—The University of Northern Iowa student-athletes rank first among Gateway Football Conference schools in graduation rates, according to a recent NCAA Division I Graduation Rates Report.
In the four-class average beginning with the entering class of 1993-94, running through the 1996-97 class, UNI’s student population as a whole ranks first among the eight GFC schools with a 64 percent graduation rate. UNI's student-athletes on grant-in-aid, including both men and women, also rank first with a rate of 64 percent, while UNI’s male student-athletes rank first with a graduation rate of 58 percent. The Panther football team ranks second in the league with a 54 percent graduation rate.
All of UNI’s rates are higher than the Gateway and NCAA averages. All students in the Gateway programs in the classes reported graduated at just a 44.75 percent rate and the NCAA average is 57 percent. All student-athletes in the Gateway programs graduated at a 56.38 percent rate and the NCAA average is 60 percent. Male student-athletes in the Gateway graduated at a 48.25 percent rate, while the NCAA average is 53 percent. The Gateway average for football players is 46.5 percent, and the NCAA average for football is 51 percent.
“We are extremely proud of the academic accomplishments of all of our student-athletes, both in terms of graduation rate and grade point average,” said UNI Director of Athletics Rick Hartzell. “Our football players are typical of the great effort that our student-athletes give both on and off the field. Not only have we been very successful on the field, but off the field, as well.”
This report comes on the heels of a first-semester grade report that showed UNI’s male student-athletes earning a cumulative 2.78 GPA first semester. All UNI student-athletes on scholarship studied their way to a cumulative 3.04 GPA. Fifty-five percent of all student-athletes at UNI earned a 3.0 GPA or better first semester and 23 percent (63 student-athletes) earned a 3.5 or better, placing them on the Dean’s List.
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