South Carolina Announces Graduate Success Rate
The University of South Carolina athletic program tied for fourth in the Southeastern Conference in the latest Graduation Success Rate, released Wednesday by the NCAA.
The Graduation Success Rate (GSR) measures the number of scholarship student-athletes that graduate within a six-year period of their initial full-time enrollment. For this report, the GSR is based on student-athletes who entered college in the fall of 2016.
South Carolina’s athletic teams had a 94 percent score, which tied with Auburn and Tennessee in the SEC behind Vanderbilt (97), Alabama (95), and Florida (95). South Carolina’s Football GSR score (90) ranked fourth among SEC schools and South Carolina schools. It tied for 18th among all Power 5 schools.
“Competing in sports at the University level provides student-athletes with an opportunity to compete at the highest levels athletically and also the opportunity to earn a degree,” said Athletics Director Ray Tanner. “We have the staff, resources and ability here at South Carolina to assist student-athletes in reaching all of these goals.”
An outstanding eight teams scored a perfect GSR (100): Men’s Soccer, Men’s Tennis, Beach Volleyball, Women’s Track, Women’s Soccer, Softball, Women’s Tennis, and Volleyball. Eleven of our NCAA-sponsored teams exceeded the Division I national average for their sport.
“We are excited about the continued academic success at the University of South Carolina,” said Charlie Ball, Associate AD. “Our success displays our commitment to our student-athletes and demonstrates their utilization of the resources within our department, along with the dedication of our academic staff. Our staff is committed to providing a tradition of exceptional academic services for student-athletes at the University of South Carolina.”
A Record of Academic Success
Gamecock Athletics has developed a proud tradition of academic success, achieving a 3.0 departmental grade point average (GPA) or higher in 33 straight semesters. Most recently, in Spring 2023, the department secured a 3.39 GPA. Except for the COVID-19 Spring 2020 semester, this marks the department’s highest GPA on record and the 33rd-consecutive semester departmental GPA above 3.0. Women’s golf (3.84) earned the highest team GPA, followed closely by beach volleyball (3.74) and men’s soccer (3.72). Overall, 17 of 18 teams earned a GPA of 3.0 or better during the spring semester. The department named 92 student-athletes to the President’s List for earning a 4.0 GPA, 160 student-athletes to the Dean’s List (3.5) and 429 to the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll (3.0).
Gamecock Athletics celebrated four student-athletes who earned College Sports Communicators Academic All-America honors in 2022-23. The list includes Aliyah Boston (1st-team, women’s basketball), Connor Thomson (2nd-team, men’s tennis), Jylissa Harris (3rd-team, women’s soccer) and Sarah Hamner (3rd-team, women’s tennis). Carolina had 57 student-athletes earn College Sports Communicators Academic All-District honors in 2022-23. In the last five seasons (since 2019), the University has had 23 Academic All-America recognitions, including 11 first team mentions.
Eleven Gamecock athletic squads have met the 3.0 standard for all 33 semesters – equestrian, men’s golf, women’s golf, men’s soccer, women’s soccer, softball, women’s swimming and diving, men’s tennis, women’s tennis, women’s track and field and volleyball. Beach volleyball has made a 3.0 GPA or better for all 20 semesters of the sport’s existence at South Carolina.
Since 2015, Gamecock Athletics have had 3,318 student-athletes earn Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll status, most of any school in the league. Almost 71 percent of all Gamecock student-athletes make the SEC Academic Honor Roll each year. The 416 Gamecock student-athletes making the 2022-23 SEC Academic Honor Roll was the highest in the SEC for the academic year.
