UMBC student-athletes received their highest grades ever in the most recently released NCAA Official 2003 Division I Graduation-Rates Report. The entire report is available online.

A record 72 percent of UMBC's student-athletes who entered as freshmen in the 1996-97 academic year earned their degrees (within a six-year span), according to the study released on August 25. The national graduation rate for NCAA Division I scholarship athletes came in at 62 percent.

In addition, 91 percent of UMBC's student-athletes who exhausted their athletics'eligibility over a ten-year span had earned their degree by August of 2002. This study tracked all student-athletes that entered the University from 1987-88 through 1996-97.

These reports survey only student-athletes who receive athletics' aid from the university for any period of time during their entering year.

The report is another example of how UMBC student-athletes are faring in the classroom. Last semester, 50 percent of all Retriever student-athletes earned 3.0 grade-point averages or higher; 25 percent were at 3.5 or higher; and 29 student-athletes earned perfect 4.0 grade-point averages.

Nine Retriever teams earned 3.0 grade-point averages or higher, and the department GPA was 2.91. In the past five years, UMBC has produced 23 Academic All-Americans, including a school record 12 in the past two years.