CSU athlete graduation rate 3rd in Mountain West

• Cohort year: Incoming freshmen that fall who graduate within six years.
• Federal rate: Percent of students who graduate from the school they started at within six years.
• Graduation success rate (GSR): Used to better measure how many student-athletes graduate.
• GSR accounts for outgoing transfers. Federal considers outgoing transfers as non-graduates.

It doesn't matter how the data is presented, the academic success of student-athletes at CSU ranks third in the Mountain West — and ahead of the University of Colorado — following a course that's only improving.

Terminology used regarding student-athlete graduation rates often muddies the topic. It's not simply a matter of what percentage of athletes receive their diplomas, but a discussion dictated by which scale is being used, when the student first entered college and whether transfer students were in good academic standing.

Since the NCAA introduced the graduation success rate, or GSR, in 1995 to better gauge how athletes perform in the classroom — opposed to the federal rate, which calculates outgoing transfers as students who fail to graduate — the percentage of Colorado State University athletes to earn their diplomas has held relatively steady at better than 80 percent since the 2001 cohort.

In the most recent cohort data available, counting freshmen who graduated within six years of starting at CSU in 2006, CSU had GSR of 83 percent, trailing only Utah State (84) and Air Force (90) among conference institutions. CSU has been ranked third in the conference for three consecutive years.

While data for the 2007 cohort, which takes into account the most recent graduating class, won't be released until October, CSU has a chance to move into second with its federal graduation rate for athletics expected to hit 70 percent, a 10-year high.

The GSR is virtually always significantly higher than the federal rate. Both are calculated by the NCAA as a four-year average, but the GSR isn't used for the general student population.

CSU student-athletes generally graduate at a better federal rate than the rest of the student body (four percentage points higher in 2006), and Steve McDonnell, assistant athletic director for academic services, said he expects that trend to continue, especially with the lofty goals university president Tony Frank has set.

"Tony Frank's goal is to have CSU have a graduation rate of 80 percent, by 2020. That's pretty ambitious since right now they're looking at 63 percent," McDonnell said.

In order for the university to reach a federal graduation rate of 80 percent within six years, McDonnell added, CSU needs to retain 90 percent of students between their freshman and sophomore years.

It's a goal that's particularly difficult in athletics. Coaching changes always lead to roster turnover, which has a considerable impact to the federal rate of a sport like men's basketball, which has 13 scholarship athletes versus 85 with football.

One player leaving the men's basketball program has the same effect on its federal graduation rate as seven football players leaving.

According to the NCAA, between the 2003-06 cohorts, CSU had a men's basketball federal graduation rate of 8 percent — by far the lowest in the athletic department. Christine Susemihl, senior associate athletic director for internal operations who's been with the program for 41 years, said this was partially a result of changing coaches from Dale Layer to Tim Miles.

When Miles took over in 2007, two of 10 underclassmen from the previous season returned to the team and only one — Stuart Creason — graduated from CSU. The other, Ronnie Aguilar, later transferred to Cal State-Dominguez Hills.

Women's basketball's four-year federal graduation rate during the same time was 25 percent, damaged by all four freshman student-athletes who set off a small chemical bomb outside a teammate's apartment in January 2007 leaving the school.

Occurrences like these are exactly why universities and the NCAA focus on the GSR as a more accurate representation of athletes' success in academia. For those student-athletes who remain with a program for a full four to five years, but bring the GSR down by not graduating, CSU provides an opportunity to still earn a diploma.

In addition to the NCAA's degree completion program for athletes who are within 30 credit hours of graduation, McDonnell said CSU is targeting former football players to come back and earn their diploma, like former NFL All-Pro linebacker Joey Porter did this year.

While bringing athletes back to graduate at a later date is a nice luxury to have, it's not the university's goal.

CSU aims for student-athletes to receive their degrees during their traditional tenure at the university and is doing an admirable job, even in the higher-profile sports that often see a lower graduation rate.

Twelve of 14 (86 percent) scholarship seniors on the football team last season have graduated (or will in the summer), along with all three on women's basketball and both on the men's team.

"It starts in the recruiting process. You have to identify those who you think have a chance to be successful at Colorado State," CSU football coach Jim McElwain said. "The thing I stress is the thing that's going to differentiate you for the rest of your life is getting that meaningful college degree.

"When I took this job, and having been in the NFL, one thing I noted is that everyone's playing days come to an end — no one plays forever. Come cut days, there's really two types of guys. The ones who have their degrees, they're at peace; the ones who don't are in a panic."

Only student-athletes who are on scholarship their first semester at a university are calculated as part of the GSR. Walk-ons, even if they earn a scholarship down the road, are not.

Follow reporter Matt L. Stephens at twitter.com/ mattstephens and facebook.com/ stephensreporting.

CSU graduation rates by sport

Note: Latest data is for the 2006 cohort, which includes students who graduated no later than during the spring of 2013.