Ohio State trustees review record graduation rate, strong academic progress for student-athletes

Sean R. Phillips
Fri, 12 Dec 2025 05:08:33 +0000
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The meeting of the Athletics Committee of the Ohio State Board of Trustees on Dec. 4. Credit: Sean Phillips | Lantern Reporter

Ohio State athletes have earned an important record, but not for anything they’ve done on a playing field or court.

Athletic officials report Ohio State athletes performance in the classroom matched a school-record single-year graduation success rate and an academic progress rate score that was 60 points above the required threshold,?

The record, reported by the Student-Athlete Support Services Office, was first revealed during a Dec. 4 Board of Trustees Athletics Committee meeting.?

“What’s really important is leadership, having an expectation that our department be successful in academics and in athletics,” said Kacy King, senior associate athletic director and director of Ohio State’s Student Athlete Support Services Office, after the meeting.?

According to the slides presented during the meeting, the academic progress rate measures the classroom performance of the student-athletes on a semester-by-semester basis. The second measure tracks the graduation rate of student-athletes over a six-year period, including transfers who remain academically eligible.?

In the presentation, Ohio State posted identical single-year and multi-year academic progress scores of 990, while the graduation success rate is 94 percent for the single year score and 93 percent for the four year cohort. The highest department GPA was a 3.4.

President Walter “Ted” Carter Jr., who was also in attendance, later framed athletics as central to the university’s public identity.?

“Athletics is the front porch of our university for many Ohioans and part of the unifying fabric of our state,” Carter said in an email. “We are very proud of our tradition of excellence on and off the field.”?

Ohio State’s numbers also reflect a broader Big Ten Conference trend, with several schools, including Northwestern University, the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota, posting graduation success rates above 90 percent.?

King said that maintaining high academic performance involves constant communication with peer institutions.?

“We really do lean on each other, and we try to pay attention to the schools who have similarities to us,” King said.?

The academic results, she said, reflect how the university supports its student-athletes.?

“I do think that [these numbers] are telling a story of how we’re taking care of students,” King said. “We are really focused on making sure they have the support they need.”?

Moving forward, King said the office’s goal is to remain above the 90 percent benchmark for graduation rates and a 985 score for academic progress.?

“I want to see them going off into the world,” King said. “As long as we’re focused on continuing to be above the benchmark, we will continue to have success.”?