EASTON, Pa.- Lafayette College's athletic programs continue to excel on a national level. Tuesday's release of the NCAA Division I annual Graduation Success Rate (GSR) report shined a light on those academic achievements.

Lafayette claimed a 98 percent GSR overall for its 19 sports measured while 18 Leopard teams achieved a graduation success rate of 100 percent.

Among the national rankings, only Columbia University managed a GSR score of 100. Bucknell, Harvard, Villanova and Yale each registered scores of 99, (Lafayette's score from 2021) while Brown, Cornell, Dartmouth, Duke, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Northwestern, Princeton, Samford, Santa Clara, and Belmont equaled the Leopards' score of 98.

As a conference, the Patriot League stood at 96, the second-best mark in the nation. Institutionally, Bucknell (99) led the way, followed by Lafayette (98), Holy Cross (98), Colgate (97), Loyola (97), Boston (95), Lehigh (95), Navy (95), American (94) and Army (91).

The NCAA's GSR includes transfer students and student-athletes who leave in good academic standing, unlike the federal graduation rate, which does not count transfers. The GSR and federal rate calculations measure graduation over six years from when a student-athlete first enrolls.

Lafayette's 18 programs which received perfect GSR scores were baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country and track and field, fencing, field hockey, golf, men's and women's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's swimming and diving, softball, men's and women's tennis and volleyball.  

In addition to those programs with perfect GSR scores, the Leopard football program had the sixth best score (94) in the country. Lafayette joined institutions from the Southeastern Conference, Atlantic Coast Conference, Colonial Athletic Association, Big Ten and the Ivy League in the top 10.

The federal graduation rate, while less inclusive than the GSR, provides the only measure of historic academic comparison between student-athletes and the general student body. By this standard, student-athletes consistently outperform nearly all their peers in the student body. Lafayette student-athletes have a federal graduation rate of 85 percent (four-class average), compared to the NCAA Division I student-athlete rate of 69 percent.