WALTHAM, Mass. – For the second straight year, Bentley University is ranked number one nationally in the latest NCAA Division II Academic Success Rate report, which was announced today. Bentley, with its highest ASR in the 13 years that the NCAA has been compiling the data, was alone at the top of the rankings, two points above the five institutions tied for second, after sharing the top position a year ago. This was the fifth straight year that Bentley has achieved an ASR of 97 or better and the eighth straight they've been above 90.

"I am proud of our scholar-athletes and our coaches who ensure the holistic development is at the forefront of Bentley athletics" said Dr. Andrew Shepardson, Vice President for Student Affairs.

Of the 19 Bentley sports that were evaluated (indoor track, outdoor track and cross country are considered one sport), 13 had perfect 100 percent ASR scores, including every women's sport (women's basketball, golf, men's lacrosse, men's soccer, men's swimming, men's tennis, men's track and cross country, softball, volleyball, women's soccer, women's swimming, women's tennis, women's track and cross country).

"Bentley's high ranking in the ASR Report is a direct reflection of the commitment our student-athletes have in the classroom," said Assistant Athletics Director Cindy Scott. "Our student-athletes are just that – students first and athletes second. All of our student-athletes take as much pride in their academic successes as they do in their athletic achievements."

Bentley's rate is significantly above the national standard. The national four-year ASR average increased one point to 73 percent, and the entering class of 2011[HH1]  increased two points to 74 percent.

This is the 13th year the NCAA has released the ASR, which is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial enrollment at a college. The NCAA developed the Division II ASR at the request of college and university presidents who believed the federal graduation rate was flawed. Division II's ASR data takes transfer students into account and removes students who left the institution in good academic standing.  In addition, given the partial-scholarship financial aid model of Division II, the ASR data includes student-athletes not on athletically related financial aid. The result is that ASR captures more than 35,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who enrolled from 2008 through 2011, the four years covered in the most recent data.

Even when utilizing the less-inclusive federal rate, Division II student-athletes perform significantly better than the general student body. The federal rate for Division II student-athletes in the 2011 entering class increased one point to 57 percent, while the general student body remains at 50 percent, a difference of seven points.

Bentley's federal graduation rate was 88 percent, second nationally among Division II institutions behind only the University of California, San Diego (91) and tied for 13th among all institutions. The top 12 are Rochester Institute of Technology, the U.S. Naval Academy, Pennsylvania, Princeton, Stanford, Harvard, Notre Dame, Davidson, California-San Diego, Northwestern, Bucknell and Duke.

Bentley wasn't the only Northeast-10 Conference institution to rank high in ASR. The conference had four in the top 25, 13 in the top 75 and the conference tied for first among all Division II conferences.

NCAA DIVISION II ACADEMIC SUCCESS RATE – TOP 10