Stetson Athletics Programs Fare Well in Annual APR

Women's Softball

The NCAA announced results this week of the multiyear Academic Progress Rate report for all Division I athletics teams. For Stetson University, the report revealed almost half of the Hatters programs with perfect, or near perfect, scores.

Implemented in 2003 as part of an ambitious academic reform effort in Division I, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) holds institutions accountable for the academic progress of their student-athletes through a team-based metric that accounts for the eligibility and retention of each student-athlete for each academic term.

The APR emerged when Division I presidents and chancellors sought a more timely assessment of academic success at colleges and universities. At the time, the best measure was the graduation rate calculated under the federally mandated methodology that was based on a six-year window and did not take transfers into account.

The APR is calculated as follows:

  • Each student-athlete receiving athletically related financial aid earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible.
  • A team’s total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team’s Academic Progress Rate.
  • In addition to a team’s current-year APR, its rolling four-year APR is also used to determine accountability.

Currently, teams must earn a 930 four-year average APR, or a 940 average over the most recent two years, to participate in NCAA championships. In 2015-16 and beyond, teams must earn a four-year APR of 930 to compete in championships.

While the APR is intended as an incentive-based approach, it does come with a progression of penalties for teams that under-perform academically over time.

Among Stetson Athletics’ 16 NCAA sports – men’s rowing and sand volleyball are not NCAA championship sports – 15 performed above, or well above, the 930 minimum on the four-year APR in the most recent report. The highest achieving programs included men’s and women’s cross country (both with a 1000 APR), volleyball (1000), men’s tennis (991), women’s golf (989) softball (981) and men’s soccer (976).

Other programs that were well above the 930 minimum included women’s tennis (973), women’s soccer (969), baseball (966), women’s rowing (962), women’s basketball (957), women’s lacrosse (956) and men’s golf (950). The football program has an APR of 931, but that number includes just two years of data.