UCF’s football student-athletes graduate at one of the highest rates among the 76 teams competing in postseason bowl games this season.
UCF has the eighth-highest overall Graduation Success Rate among all of the bowl teams, and the second-highest rate among teams from public universities, according to an annual report conducted by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport, founded and led by UCF’s Richard Lapchick.
The UCF football team’s graduation rate is 90 percent. Out of all bowl-bound universities, Stanford has the highest graduation rate at 99 percent. Northern Illinois leads public universities with a rate of 91 percent.
The overall graduation rate for bowl-bound football teams is 73 percent, up from 72 percent in 2013, Lapchick said.
One of Lapchick’s primary goals is to eliminate the gap between graduation rates for white and African-American football student-athletes. UCF is one of nine schools that had a higher graduation rate for African-American football student-athletes compared to their white teammates.
UCF’s Graduation Success Rate for African-American student-athletes was 91, which ranked No. 7 among all bowl teams and No. 2 among bowl teams from public universities.
Counting all student-athletes – not just football teams – UCF is the top-rated public institution with a graduation rate of 95 percent. The university is tied for fourth place out of all 76 schools.
The graduation rates are based on the number of student-athletes who graduate within six years of entering college.