Sept. 3, 2003
Athletics: Youngstown State Third in NCAA Academic Achievement Award Category
    Indianapolis, Ind. -- Youngstown State University placed third in the Division I-AA rankings of colleges and universities nationwide as having the highest student-athlete graduation rate above the student-body average. The information was announced by the NCAA and was presented in Tuesday's editions of the USA Today.
    For student-athletes who entered Youngstown State during the 1996-97 academic year and have earned degrees within six years, YSU student-athletes graduated at a 31-percent higher rate than the general Youngstown State student-body. Last year, Youngstown State student-athletes graduated at a 27-percent clip higher than the general student population.
    The rankings from this survey were determined by federal graduation-rate forms used by schools and were for freshmen who entered school in the fall of 1996 and had six years to graduate.
    This year, the NCAA divided Division I-AA and Division I-AAA into separate categories. Last year, Penguin student-athletes placed seventh in the I-AA/I-AAA category out of 199 schools. Overall, more than 120 institutions sponsor Division I-AA football.
    The academic achievement awards were established to recognize colleges and universities in three categories: institutions graduating the highest percentage of student-athletes, institutions with the highest student-athlete graduation rates above the average of the student body, and institutions with the greatest increase in percentage of student-athletes graduating over the previous cohort.
    The latest NCAA graduation-rates research indicates student-athletes matriculating in 1996 graduated at a rate of 62 percent, which not only is two percentage points higher than last year's all-time high, but three percentage points higher than the overall student body -- the largest separation between the two groups in more than a decade.
    Texas Southern had the highest percentage difference between graduation rates of student-athletes and the student-body at 44 percent in I-AA. Southern was second at 39 percent. Fellow Gateway Football Conference member Western Kentucky placed ninth.
    Excellence in athletics and academics have long be a strong commitment by the YSU Department of Intercollegiate Athletics. In 2001, the Penguins joined the Horizon League, which is a league geared toward enhancing the holistic university experience for the student-athlete. Prior to moving into the Horizon League, YSU student-athletes earned Academic all-conference, all-district and All-America accolades. Prior to that, the Youngstown State football program joined the Gateway Football Conference in 1997.
   

1996 Division I-AA Graduation Rate
Above the Student Body Rate