Virginia Football Earns Share of AFCA Academic Achievement Award

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – Virginia was one of 13 FBS schools to share the AFCA Academic Achievement Award presented by the Memphis Touchdown Club. All 13 schools shared the highest graduation rate for members of their 2016 freshman football student-athlete classes.

Virginia claims the honor for the fourth time in program history, tied for the seventh-most of any college football program. UVA previously won the AVCA Academic Achievement Award in 1985, 1986 and 2017.

The award will be presented during the Honors Luncheon on Monday, January 8, at the 2024 AFCA Convention in Nashville, Tennessee.

This year’s award marks the 12th time the NCAA’s Graduation Success Rate (GSR) one-year formula has been used to select the winner. From 1981 to 2007, the award was presented based on a formula used by the College Football Association and the AFCA. From 2008-17, the criteria for the AFCA’s Academic Achievement Award was based on the highest NCAA GSR, and a Federal Graduation Rate of 75 percent or better. For 2018 and 2019, the AFCA used the NCAA’s single-year APR. The AFCA returned to the GSR one-year formula in 2022.

The GSR is based on a six-year graduation window for student-athletes and holds institutions accountable for transfer students, unlike the federal graduation rate. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and non-scholarship students at schools that do not offer athletics aid. Under GSR calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. These outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution’s GSR cohort.