Kansas University’s student-athlete graduation rates improved by 2 percent in the latest annual report released by KU athletic department officials Tuesday.

Following the new NCAA’s new graduation-success-rate (GSR) formula, KU athletes increased their graduation rate from 68 percent a year ago to 70 percent.

The NCAA will release a report on all member schools in the next two weeks. KU elected to release its report Tuesday.

The GSR, which unlike the old system takes into account transfer students, allows an athlete six years to graduate. This current report tracks freshmen entering KU in the fall of 1999 until their six-year window closes in the spring of 2005.

For the cohort class of 1999, KU athletes had a graduation rate of 60 percent, compared to 59 for the entire student body.

“It (GSR) is a measure of a student-athlete’s success. There’s no doubt about it,” KU associate AD Paul Buskirk said. “I think our numbers continue to be good. We are not competing against the university. We should be in concert with it. The GSR, which is supposed to be the more accurate measure, is going up. I am real pleased, proud of our kids.”

KU had a 51 percent graduation success rate for football (average of the incoming classes in the fall of 1999, 98, 97 and 96) and 45 percent for men’s basketball. Other men’s sports and their graduation success rates: golf 67 percent; cross country/track 60 percent; baseball 55 percent. Women’s sports and their GSRs: golf 100 percent; swimming 91 percent; volleyball 91 percent; cross country/track 89 percent; tennis 86 percent; rowing 85 percent; soccer 82 percent; softball 80 percent; women’s basketball 69 percent.

The NCAA’s report on academic progress rates, which result in the loss of scholarships if teams don’t subscribe to a certain standard, will be released in April.