LOS ANGELES (CNS) - USC's athletes had a school-record 91% Graduation Success Rate while UCLA's 90% rate was two percentage points lower than its record set last year, according to figures released today by the NCAA.
The USC record mirrored the national trend. The Graduation Success Rate for Division I athletes was a record 90%, 1 percentage point higher than last year.
The 2020 GSR measures the percentage of student-athletes in the classes of 2010 through 2013 who graduated within six years of their enrollment.
Five USC teams had perfect scores -- women's lacrosse, soccer and track and field and men's tennis and water polo. The football team and the men's volleyball and track and field teams also set or equaled their GSR highs.
The football team's 82% rate matched the program high set last year. It was 6 percentage points higher than the figure released in 2018 and 27 higher than the initial figure released in 2005.
The men's basketball team 75% rate was 15 percentage points higher than last year. The program's high was 82% from figures released in 2015.
There were seven UCLA teams with 100 percent Graduation Success Rates - - women's basketball, golf, gymnastics, rowing, swimming and diving and tennis and men's tennis.
The UCLA football team had a 79% rate, seven percentage points less than last year. The program's high was 89% in figures released in 2015.
The UCLA men's basketball team had a 43% rate, 14 percentage points lower than last year.
The overall national rate was boosted by a 4 percentage point increase in men's basketball, including a 6 percentage point increase among Black players, and a 2 percentage point increase in women's basketball, including a 3 percentage point increase among Black players.
The rate for players in the Football Bowl Subdivision, the highest level of competition, including the Power 5 conferences was 81%, down 1 percentage point from last year.
The NCAA Division I Board of Directors created the GSR in 2002 in response to college and university presidents who wanted data that more accurately reflected the mobility of college students beyond what the federal graduation rate measures.
The federal rate counts as an academic failure any student who leaves a school, even if the student enrolls at another school. The federal rate does not recognize students who enter school as transfer students.
The GSR formula removes from the rate athletes who leave school while academically eligible and includes athletes who transfer to a school after initially enrolling elsewhere.
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