INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. - For the second year in a row, Concordia-St. Paul student-athletes have achieved a four year 92 percent Academic Success Rate and are one of 32 NCAA Division II institutions to earn the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence. This is the seventh year of the program.

Concordia's 92 percent mark ranks second in the 16-member Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC), only slightly trailing the University of Sioux Falls (93 percent). Concordia's 92 percent ASR ranks 21st in the country after ranking 17th of the 26 institutions honored a year ago.

Nationally, the ASR is 72 percent for Division II student-athletes who entered college from 2007 through 2010, an increase of 1 percentage point from the 2006-09 groups.

Division II student-athletes continue to graduate at a higher rate than the general student body. The federal rate for the 2010 entering class of student-athletes held steady at 56 percent, compared with 50 percent for the general student body.

"I am beyond thrilled for the success our student-athletes are finding in the classroom, and proud of the environment at Concordia that allows them to reach their full potential," said director of athletics Mark "Lunch" McKenzie. "This is the type of honor that's shared around the athletic department and campus community as a whole. I want to congratulate the hard work and dedication of our student-athletes both in competition and the classroom. I also want to congratulate our coaches on an excellent job of recruiting and mentoring high-level individuals, who are driven to succeed in all that they do."

The Academic Success Rate is the percentage of student-athletes who graduate within six years of initial collegiate enrollment and includes virtually all Division II student-athletes, including transfers and those not receiving athletics scholarships.

"Concordia is committed to credible outcomes of embedding the liberal arts concepts in responsive and relevant majors from which students can continue into their chosen career aspirations. We are so pleased and proud that the hard work of our students, faculty and staff continues to embody itself in meaningful athletic and academic successes," said Dr. Eric LaMott, Provost and Chief Operating Officer.

Concordia has been out pacing the national and local trends in higher education with soaring enrollment figures, now reaching a record 4,792 for the 2017-18 academic year. The enrollment figure is due to a combination of increased academic offerings and CSP's tuition reset, a $10,000 price reduction in the fall of 2013.
 
While those two factors have helped enrollment grow, the Presidents' Award for Academic Excellence is a key indicator that positive student outcomes are also soaring as a result of the dynamic changes.

"With the broadening of academic offerings and the bottom-dollar impact of the tuition reset, our coaches have been able to recruit a whole new caliber of individual. Earning this honor two years only verifies that CSP is on an upward trajectory," said associate athletics director and senior woman administrator Regan McAthie. "But there are many behind-the-scene aspects that are really at work here. We owe a lot of this accomplishment to the engaged and supportive faculty at Concordia as well as the incredible staff in academic advising, tutoring, career services and countless other departments that guide our student-athletes in their scholastic success."

The Division II ASR captures about 48 percent more student-athletes than the federal graduation rate. Unlike the federal rate, the ASR counts non-scholarship student-athletes and those who transfer to a school after initial enrollment elsewhere, while removing student-athletes who leave school while academically eligible.

"Division II operates with a 'Life in the Balance' approach, emphasizing learning, growth and development through academics, athletics, community engagement, and post-graduation success," said Glen Jones, president of Henderson State and chair of the Division II Presidents Council. "Academics is a key component of this balance, and I am proud of the commitment our schools have made to this philosophy and the magnificent achievements of our student-athletes."