NCAA Academic Progress Rates Released (APR)

Lincoln, Neb. ? The NCAA released the first-year Academic Progress Rates (APR) for each of its member schools on Monday, Feb. 28, 2005. The APR rate is based on the eligibility and retention of student-athletes and is designed to reward teams who are doing well in these two areas and to penalize those teams who do not make academic progress. The University of Nebraska has consistently voted in favor of academic reforms, including the APR, which is being implemented for the first time.

The APR measures two things each semester, academic eligibility and the retention of student-athletes at the university. Beginning next fall, contemporaneous penalties will be assessed to teams who scored lower than 925, if they have student-athletes who are 0-for-2, meaning did not remain at the university and did not remain eligible. Teams that posted APR scores below 925, but did not have any 0-for-2 student-athletes, would not be subject to penalties. Contemporaneous penalties, which will be applied next year for the first time, would be capped at 10 percent, meaning no team could lose more than 10 percent of the maximum allowed scholarships in any given year.

The inaugural APR report has just one year of data compiled. Next year, there will be two years of data and beginning in 2008, the APR data will always include the previous four years of information.

The University of Nebraska Athletic Department scored a 927 overall on the first APR report and had only two of its 23 teams listed as at-risk, when confidence boundaries were applied.

None of Nebraska’s women’s teams were at-risk and the volleyball team scored a perfect 1,000. Basketball, bowling, golf, gymnastics, rifle, soccer, softball, tennis, indoor and outdoor track and field and volleyball all scored above 925. Swimming was not listed as at-risk because it has an estimated APR upper confidence boundary of 925 or above. This means that even though the team’s actual APR is below 925, it is anticipated that some smaller squads, that may be identified as underperforming in this year’s reports, will not be subject to penalty once the confidence boundary is applied.

Husker men’s teams with a 925 or above included football, basketball, golf and gymnastics. The men’s indoor and outdoor track teams and the wrestling team were not listed as at-risk because they have an estimated APR upper confidence boundary of 925 or above. Men’s tennis and baseball were the only two Husker teams listed as at-risk.

In the case of both men’s and women’s cross country, no score was given (and those teams are not at risk), because the data represented three or fewer scholarship student-athletes. In accordance with FERPA’s interpretation of federal privacy regulations, institutions should not disclose statistical data contained in this report regarding students in cells including three or fewer students without student consent. In the future, with larger sample sizes, i.e. four years of data instead of one, the confidence boundaries may eventually be eliminated.

"We have always strongly supported academic reform measures that assist our student-athletes," Athletic Director Steve Pederson said. "Our goals have never been to just make the grade, rather, we want to excel in each of our academic and athletic endeavors. Our score as a department exceeds the APR cutoff rate of 925, but we still have work to do. We intend to work within this new measurement system and to show improvement in every area."

Because the score not only measures academic progress, but also whether or not an athlete stays at the institution, the APR system is intended to change the recruiting culture.

"Our student-athletes are special," Pederson said. "They set the standard for academics nationally, leading the nation in academic All-America awards and graduating at a 91 percent exhausted eligibility rate. We believe if we continue to recruit solid students, who can compete at the highest Division I level, who embrace the work ethic and moral values that Nebraskans share, we will be able to continue to be successful and will be able to work with this new system."

While a new system for measuring academic progress began approximately three years ago when the NCAA Presidents began a strong movement toward academic reform, the actual measuring tool was implemented at an accelerated rate. The NCAA is giving schools one year without contemporaneous penalties to digest and adjust to the system. The University received the 2003-04 data from the NCAA in mid-February. The University will submit reports for 2004-05 in September.

The University of Nebraska leads the nation in academic All-Americans with 219 across all sports and all teams. More importantly, 91 percent of Nebraska student-athletes, who have exhausted their eligibility at NU, graduate from Nebraska. The National Consortium for Academics and Sport recently rewarded Nebraska with the award for the highest success combining community service, outreach and degree completion. Nebraska has been awarded this honor in each of the past four years.

"We are so proud of our academic support staff," Pederson said. "Many people at the University of Nebraska have worked extremely hard to not only gauge where we are at, but to improve on our scores for next year. Jo Potuto, Richard H. Larson Professor of Constitutional Law and our Faculty Athletics Representative, Dennis Leblanc, Keith Zimmer, Katie Jewell and other members of our academic support staff, as well as Lori Byrne in scholarships, and Linda Olson in admissions have worked countless hours to get their arms around this process. Marc Boehm and Bob Burton have worked closely with each of our coaches and student-athletes in order to continue to show strong academic success here at Nebraska. I appreciate their hard work and know that we will be in good hands as we work with this new assessment of progress."