Bentley achieved an ASR of 99 for the fourth consecutive year and was one of only two institutions to achieve that lofty plateau this year, an accomplishment it shared with St. Michael's College. This also marks the eighth straight year that Bentley has achieved an ASR of 97 or better and the 11th straight in which it was been above 90.

"Bentley student-athletes are a force to be reckoned with in the classroom and beyond" said J. Andrew Shepardson, Vice President for Student Affairs. "I'm proud of their continued commitment to excellence culminating with this national recognition for a fifth year in a row."

Of the 19 Bentley sports that were evaluated (indoor track, outdoor track and cross country are considered one sport), an amazing 16 had perfect 100 percent ASR scores, including all women's sports. They are baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country and track, field hockey, men's golf, men's ice hockey, men's and women's lacrosse, women's soccer, softball, women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, and volleyball.

"Being ranked number one in Division II in academic success rate is a tremendous tribute to Bentley University, our student-athletes and their dedication to succeeding in the classroom," said Director of Athletics Vaughn Williams. "To be able to be number one for five straight years is truly incredible. What a great accomplishment!"

Bentley's rate is significantly above the national standard. The national four-year ASR average climbed two points to 76 percent.

Bentley's federal graduation rate was 91 percent, best nationally among Division II institutions and tied with Davidson College for 11th among all institutions. The only institutions ahead of Bentley are Yale, Dean College, the United States Naval Academy, Rochester Institute of Technology, Pratt Institute, Princeton, Pennsylvania, Stanford, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and Northwestern.

Bentley and St. Michael's weren't the only Northeast-10 Conference institution to rank high in ASR. The conference had five in the top 25, eight in the top 50 and 12 in the top 100. For the third straight year, the Northeast-10 ranked first among all Division II conferences for the third straight year with an ASR of 89 percent.

This is the 16th 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 approximately 31,000 non-scholarship student-athletes who enrolled from 2011 through 2014, 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 2014 entering class increased one point to 60 percent, while the general student body went up by the same margin to 52 percent, a difference of eight points.

NCAA DIVISION II ACADEMIC SUCCESS RATE – TOP 10