Northwestern University Athletics
NCAA Releases Three-Year Academic Progress Rate Data
5/2/2007 12:00:00 AM | General
May 2, 2007
2005-06 Northwestern APR Data
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EVANSTON, Ill. -- The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) released its latest Academic Progress Rate (APR) data on Wednesday, and Northwestern continues to perform at a high level academically.
All information in the latest report (see above PDF) is for three academic years only, unless otherwise noted. The NCAA anticipates reporting data only on the basis of a four-year rolling rate for all sports when four years of data are available.
Every Division I sports team calculates its APR each academic year, based on the eligibility, retention and graduation of each scholarship student-athlete. An APR of 925 translates to an NCAA Graduation Success Rate of approximately 60 percent.
Every Northwestern program has an APR of 962 or higher, with five programs sporting a perfect 1,000 score -- men's golf, men's tennis, women's fencing, women's golf and women's lacrosse. Five other programs had a perfect score for 2005-06: baseball, women's cross country, field hockey, softball and women's tennis.
Teams that score below 925 and have a student fail academically and leave school can lose up to 10 percent of their scholarships. Known as immediate penalties in the academic reform program, these scholarships can be lost each year and not reawarded until the following year.
The average APR for all Division I student-athletes is 960, according to the latest data, which for most teams is based on three years of academic performance. The average APR for male student-athletes is 950 while the average for female student-athletes is 970.
"We continue to fare very well academically," says Mark Murphy, Northwestern's director of athletics. "We take great pride in competing at the highest level athletically while also graduating a high percentage of student-athletes."
Despite fielding a smaller number of varsity sport programs than most BCS schools, Northwestern has finished 29th the past two years in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors' Cup standings.
