ELON, N.C. – The NCAA recently announced the 2017-18 Graduation Success Rate (GSR) and Federal Graduation Rate data for all Division I institutions as part of the annual NCAA Division I Academic Performance Program.
 
This year's Elon-specific data revealed an overall single-year GSR of 95 percent – the highest in the Colonial Athletic Association – as six Phoenix programs earned a perfect 100 percent GSR score. Those programs include:
 
•  Men's Basketball
•  Men's Cross Country
•  Women's Basketball
•  Women's Cross Country & Track
•  Women's Golf
•  Women's Tennis
 
Elon is one of just 2 schools in the CAA that had every athletic program achieve a GSR of 80 percent or higher.
 
"I am very proud to see the continued commitment our student-athletes have to achieving both academic and athletic success, and the latest graduation success rate data shows just that," said Director of Athletics Dave Blank. "Educating and graduating student-athletes is the foundation of our mission at Elon. This latest report is not only a credit to our student-athletes, but also to the tremendous mentorship and support from our coaches and other Elon faculty and staff."
 
Other highlights include:
 
•  The Elon football team's 96-percent GSR was the highest in the Colonial Athletic Association and 10th nationally among schools that compete in the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS).
 
•  The Elon men's basketball program earned a perfect GSR of 100 percent for the fifth consecutive year. Since joining the CAA in 2014-15, Elon is one of two schools to have had a 100 percent GSR every year.
 
•  The Elon women's basketball program was one of two CAA schools with a 100 percent GSR. Overall, this year marks the fourth straight year Elon women's basketball has a GSR percentage of 90 or above. This year marks the fourth time since 2007-08 that Elon had a 100 percent GSR.
 
•  Elon baseball's 94 percent GSR was the highest since 2010. Elon was one of only five CAA schools with a GSR percentage of 90 or above.
 
•  This marks the ninth consecutive year Elon women's golf recorded a 100 percent GSR. The team has had a 90 or above GSR percentage for 12 consecutive years.
 
•  Women's soccer recorded a 93 percent GSR this year. Since 2005, the Elon women's soccer program has recorded a GSR of 93 or higher every year, including a perfect 100 percent on six occasions.
 
•  The Elon men's soccer program had a GSR of 94 percent, making the Phoenix one of only three schools in the CAA to achieve a 90 or higher. Additionally, the program has had a GSR of 90 or above in three consecutive years.
 
•  Women's tennis earned a perfect 100 percent GSR in the latest report, marking the fourth straight year the program earned a 100 percent.
 
•  The Elon men's cross country and women's cross country and track and field programs each earned perfect 100 percent scores in the latest report. It marks the fourth straight year the men's program has earned a 100 percent. The women's team has now been above 95 percent in every GSR release to date.
 
The GSR measures graduation rates of scholarship student-athletes at Division I institutions. It includes those transferring into the institutions. The GSR also allows institutions to subtract student-athletes who leave their institutions prior to graduation, as long as they would have been academically eligible to compete had they remained. The 2017-18 rates are based on the entering classes from 2008-11.
 
The NCAA's GSR was developed in response to a mandate by college and university presidents for graduation data that more accurately reflects the mobility among today's college students. Both rates improve on the federally mandated graduation rate by including students who were omitted from the federal calculation.
 
Each year, members of the Phoenix Club help provide scholarship support for Elon's student-athletes. Please click here to learn more.