CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Eight University of Illinois athletics programs earned perfect Graduation Success Rate (GSR) scores, as part of Wednesday's GSR and Federal Graduation Rate (FGS) reports released by the NCAA. The Fighting Illini earned an overall GSR of 88, one point above the record-breaking national average for all Division I student-athletes.

The data is based on the 2007-2010 cohort, ending with freshmen that began at the University of Illinois in 2010-11. Data is calculated after student-athletes are given six years to graduate following their first-time enrollment at a given university.

The eight Illini programs that posted perfect GSR scores of 100 were baseball, men's golf, women's basketball, women's gymnastics, softball, soccer, swimming and diving and women's tennis. Another four programs were over 90 - women's cross country/track and field (96), volleyball (92), men's gymnastics (90) and women's golf (90).

GSR HIGHLIGHTS
» 12 fo 17 Illini programs scored at or above the Division I average GSR for their respective sport.
» Baseball posted its second GSR of 100 since the report began in 1998. Illinois is one of only 18 perfect GSRs in Division I baseball and one of only two Big Ten baseball program to earn a 100.
» Women's gymnastics has posted a GSR of 100 in all 13 years since the report began in 1998.
» Women's soccer has posted a GSR of 100 in all 13 years since the report began in 1998. Illinois is one of five Big Ten women's soccer programs to earn a 100.
» Softball posted its first GSR of 100 in five years and its seventh since the report began in 1998.
» Men's golf posted its sixth straight GSR of 100 and seventh since the report began in 1998.
» Women's basketball posted its fourth straight GSR of 100 and fifth since the report began in 1998.
» Women's tennis posted its third straight GSR of 100 and fifth since the report began in 1998.
» Women's swimming and diving posted its second straight GSR and ninth since the report began in 1998. The program has had a GSR over 96 every year since the report began.
» Women's cross country/track has posted a GSR over 90 in all 13 years since the report began in 1998.
» Volleyball had a GSR over 90 for the seventh consecutive year.
» Men's gymnastics had a GSR of 90 or above for the eighth consecutive year.
» Women's golf had a GSR of 90 or above for the 11th time in the 13 years since the report began in 1998.
» Men's cross country/track and field scored above the national average (81). 
» Football scored above the national average (75). 

FGR vs. GSR
GSR begins with the federal cohort, and adds transfer students, midyear enrollees, and non-scholarship students (in specified cases) to the sample. Student-athletes who leave an institution while in good academic standing before exhausting athletics eligibility are removed from the cohort of their initial institution. This rate provides a more complete and accurate look at actual student-athlete success by taking into account the full variety of participants in Division I athletics and tracking their academic outcomes. 

FGR assesses only first-time full-time freshmen in a given cohort and only counts them as academic successes if they graduate from their institution of initial enrollment within a six-year period. It makes no accommodation for transfers into or out of an institution. The rate is very limited because it ignores the large number of transfer students in higher education, but it is still the only rate that allows a direct comparison between student-athletes and the general student-body.