COLCHESTER, Vt. - Saint Michael's College was one of 43 institutions that earned an NCAA Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence on Thursday after tying for sixth nationally by graduating 95% of its student-athletes for the most recent cycle. The accolade recognizes athletic departments boasting a four-year Academic Success Rate (ASR) of 90% or better, as the College was lauded for the 15th time in as many years that the award has been disbursed.
 
A Division II-best seven Northeast 10 Conference institutions were recognized with Presidents' Awards for Academic Excellence, as the league did no worse than tie for the national lead for the 13th straight year. Bentley University (98%) topped a competitive field that included league brethren Assumption University (93%), Adelphi University (91%), Southern New Hampshire University (91%), Pace University (90%) and Saint Anselm College (90%). For the 19th straight year, Saint Michael's was one of the top two in the NE10's ASR race.
 
The Division II Academic Requirements Committee established the Division II Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence in spring 2012 to recognize programs achieving long-term academic success.
 
The College matched five schools for sixth in ASR among more than 300 Division II schools for the cohort taken into account, which this year comprised the four-year cycle of classes entering between 2015 and 2018. Saint Michael's trailed only Emmanuel (Ga.) University (100%), Hillsdale College (99%), Bentley, Rollins College (98%) and Augustana (S.D.) University (96%) in the national rankings. Saint Michael's, which continued to record an ASR significantly higher than the NCAA Division II average, which this year was 77%, posted at least a 95% showing for the 19th straight cycle. ASR data has been tracked by the NCAA for the past 20 years, since its inaugural release in 2006.
 
The College, which owns 15 top-three ASR finishes in 20 years, has been as high as first on six occasions, leading Division II outright in 2011 while tying for the top spot in 2010, 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023.
 
The data shows eight of the College's programs had a 100% ASR for this latest four-year span: women's basketball, women's cross country, field hockey, women's ice hockey, women's skiing, softball, women's tennis and women's volleyball. The remaining programs were all at 85% or better.
 
The NCAA annually releases the Division II ASR, a model developed at the request of presidents of Division II institutions to overcome inadequacies with the Federal Graduation Rate (FGR). The FGR only takes into account student-athletes that receive athletic scholarships, while the ASR considers all student-athletes, thus capturing non-scholarship students that represent a clear majority of the Saint Michael's student-athletes.
 
A searchable database for ASR information and federal reports for all NCAA Division II institutions is available by visiting here.