Because the ultimate goal of the college experience is graduation, the NCAA has devoted attention to researching student-athlete graduation rates for more than two decades.

All colleges and universities are required by federal law (the Student Right-to-Know Act from 1990) to report student graduation rates. Those schools offering athletics aid are required to report on their student-athletes as well.  

NCAA legislation requires member schools to report enrollment (of both student body and student-athletes receiving athletics aid) and student body and student-athlete graduation rates to the NCAA each year. The NCAA then publishes reports on behalf of the member schools to comply with federal reporting requirements.

The student-athlete graduation rate calculated directly based on the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System Graduation Rates Survey, which is the methodology the U.S. Department of Education requires, is the proportion of first-year, full-time student-athletes who entered a school on athletics aid and graduated from that institution within six years. This federal rate does not account for students who transfer from their original college or university and graduate elsewhere; they are considered nongraduates at both the college they left and the one from which they eventually graduate.  

NCAA members, particularly presidents and chancellors, asked the NCAA in the early 2000s to develop a measure of student-athlete graduation success that more accurately reflects modern-day patterns of student enrollment and transfer. As a result, the NCAA created the Graduation Success Rate (GSR) for Division I and the Academic Success Rate (ASR) for Division II.

The NCAA GSR differs from the federal calculation in two important ways. First, the GSR holds colleges accountable for those student-athletes who transfer to their school. Second, the GSR does not penalize colleges whose student-athletes leave the institution in good academic standing. The Division II ASR additionally includes student-athletes who did not receive athletics aid but did participate in athletics their first year at the school.

The NCAA has developed a Division III ASR, which is required to be submitted each year. Schools will include student-athletes who did not receive athletics aid but participated in athletics.