UCLA Athletics has maintained a Graduation Success Rate (GSR) of 86% – a rate that matches the national average for Division I schools. The 2017 GSR cohort is based on scholarship student-athletes who entered college as freshmen or transfers in the 2007-08 through 2010-11 classes.
Five Bruin squads – men's water polo, women's basketball, women's golf, softball, and women's tennis - had a GSR of 100 percent. Seventeen of the 20 programs had a GSR of 80 percent or higher, and 11 of the 20 were at 90 percent or higher. (UCLA has 25 sports; for this report, cross country, indoor track and field and outdoor track and field are counted as one sport, and beach volleyball did not begin until 2013).
UCLA's overall GSR is 86%, and the football team is tied for the second-highest GSR among conference schools with 83%. The national average for FBS schools is 76%.
The GSR is the NCAA's more comprehensive calculation of student-athlete academic success. The NCAA rate is more accurate than the federally-mandated methodology because it is more inclusive of the total student-athlete population. The GSR includes incoming transfers and students enrolling in the winter or spring quarters who receive athletics aid.
Student-athletes who leave an institution academically and athletically eligible to compete are removed from their respective cohorts. If former student-athletes return within their six-year window to make progress towards their degree, however, they are subsequently included back into the cohort. As a result, sports which have a higher level of attrition due to professional drafts may see their GSR lowered when a former student-athlete returns to pursue his or her degree. For example, within this cohort, baseball (10); men's basketball, men's golf and men's soccer (one each), had former student-athletes return to UCLA to pursue their education within their six-year window, significantly lowering those team's respective GSRs.
Regardless of impact on GSR, UCLA remains committed to ensuring that every student-athlete has an opportunity to earn their degree, be it within or outside of their six-year window.