Sept. 29, 2006

Five Baylor teams recorded perfect scores for their graduation rates and all 13 of its intercollegiate athletic programs registered marks at or above the national average for their respective sport according to the Graduation Success Rates (GSR) recently released by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).

"Baylor student-athletes continue to succeed in the classroom and graduate at record rates," said Baylor Director of Athletics Ian McCaw. "We are grateful to our coaches, academic advisors and especially our student-athletes for their commitment to academic excellence."

Of the 13 sports at Baylor in which the NCAA measured Graduation Success Rates, Baylor registered the Big 12 Conference's highest GSR in seven sports--baseball, men's basketball, men's tennis, women's cross country/track, women's golf, women's tennis and women's volleyball. The Baylor football program's GSR ranked No. 2 in the Big 12 Conference, while the Lady Bear basketball team tied for third among league institutions.

In addition, 12 of Baylor's 13 athletic programs had a GSR at or above 80 percent and five had perfect 100 percent scores--men's tennis, women's cross country/track, women's golf, women's tennis and women's volleyball). It marked the second straight year that Baylor's women's cross country/track, women's golf, women's tennis and women's volleyball programs recorded perfect GSR scores.

The GSR is an NCAA measurement that improves on the federally mandated graduation rate by including transfer date in the calculation. The data is from the four-class aggregate of entering classes from 1996 through 1999. The GSR was developed in response to college and university presidents who wanted graduation date that more accurately reflected the mobility among students in today's higher education climate.

The GSR release is the first of two this fall, and it includes four-class averages for each team at each institution, as well as the four-class graduation rate for that sport. Because the focus is at the team level, the data are provided as four-class aggregates, since that format is a much more accurate indicator of a team's academic performance than any single-cohort rate. The NCAA will release each institution's overall federal graduation rate in October. The NCAA also will include each school's overall GSR for student-athletes on the federal report.

Baylor's 2006 GSR By Sport:

Baseball (87)

Basketball, Men's (67)

Basketball, Women's (92)

Football (85)

Golf, Men's (80)

Golf, Women's (100)

Soccer, Women's (88)

Softball (93)

Tennis, Men's (100)

Tennis, Women's (100)

Track & Cross Country, Men's (85)

Track & Cross Country, Women's (100)

Volleyball, Women's (100)

Note: Bold indicates program posted highest GSR rate in Big 12 Conference.