INDIANAPOLIS – Loyola University Maryland Athletics marked a milestone on Wednesday with the release of the NCAA's Graduation Success Rate data. The Greyhounds tied for fourth out of 353 Division I schools, the 20^th-straight year they have been in the top six of the national rankings.
 
Loyola has ranked in the top 98 or 99 percentile each year the data has been published, and this year stretches its streak to 20 of 20 years being in the top six.
 
This year's cohort measured by the NCAA – first-year classes between 2014-15 and 2017-18 – has a graduation success rate of 96 percent at Loyola. The Greyhounds have measured at 95 percent or higher all 20 years of the report.
 
Eight of the Greyhounds' teams attained scores of 100 percent in the report, and Loyola's 96-percent overall GSR ranks first among schools from the State of Maryland. A full database of GSR results is available from the NCAA.
 
"It is a focus at Loyola to recruit talented student-athletes, help them develop and grow through an incredible educational experience which prepares them to bring their talents into the world as graduates," said Donna M. Woodruff, Loyola's assistant vice president and director of athletics. "We again celebrate a graduation success rate that places Loyola among the top institutions in the country, further highlightinour continued pursuit of academic success by our student-athletes, faculty, and administrators who believe in Loyola academically and athletically."
 
Loyola posted perfect 100-percent scores for men's basketball, men's cross country, women's basketball, women's cross country and track and field, women's lacrosse, women's rowing, women's soccer and women's tennis.
 
The NCAA developed the Graduation Success Rate as part of its academic reform initiative to more accurately assess the academic success of student-athletes. The GSR also accounts for midyear enrollees and is calculated for every sport, which increases the total number of student-athletes tracked for graduation by more than 37 percent over the federal version.
 
Under the calculation, institutions are not penalized for outgoing transfer students who leave in good academic standing. Instead, the outgoing transfers are passed to the receiving institution's Graduation Success Rate cohort.