The grades are in, and it's a new school record for the Owls as the Kennesaw State athletic department's GSR (Graduation Success Rate) was just released last week. Overall, KSU's GSR was 85%, setting an institution high. The most recent set of data and rates tracks the academic success of student-athletes who initially enrolled at KSU during the Fall of 2014 semester.
 
Not only has the Owls' rate set a new school mark, this marks the fifth-straight year the GSR improved over the previous year, for a total of 13% over that period. KSU also saw five programs earn a perfect GSR of 100%, which tied for second in the ASUN Conference for the second-highest number of sports to achieve a perfect mark. The five teams included women's basketball, men's golf, women's golf, women's tennis and volleyball.
 
"This is a tremendous accomplishment, and shows that KSU is being successful in graduating our student-athletes," said Randy Kennedy, KSU Associate AD and Director of Student-Athlete Success Services. "I am proud of the work we do in SASS to support our student-athletes, and ensure they earn their degrees and move on to be successful in their chosen careers. Our FlightPlan encompasses growth and development opportunities to ensure our student-athletes are meeting their potential, and this is reflected in our Graduation Success Rates."
 
The NCAA Graduation Success Rate (GSR) begins with the federal cohort (which provides a measure of historic academic comparison between student-athletes and the general student body) and adds transfer students, mid-year enrollees, and non-scholarship students (in specific cases) to the sample. Student-athletes who leave an institution while in good academic standing before exhausting athletic eligibility are removed from the cohort of their initial institution. This rate provides a more complete and accurate look at actual student-athlete success by taking into account the full variety of participants in Division I athletics and tracking their academic outcomes.