INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — College athletes are graduating at record numbers and with better rates than non-athletes, according to new statistics released Tuesday by the NCAA.

The annual report shows 84 percent of freshmen players who entered school in 2007-08 earned degrees within six years. That’s a 2 percentage point increase over the previous one-year record high, set in 2006-07. The four-year average is 82 percent, also a record.

NCAA President Mark Emmert calls it the best academic performance since the NCAA started tracking numbers with the 1995-96 freshmen.

Four-year federal numbers, which cover freshmen classes from 2004-07, show 65 percent of athletes graduate compared with 64 percent of non-athletes. The NCAA includes transfer students who leave school in good academic standing and earn a degree elsewhere. The feds do not count transfers.