Five Programs With Perfect APR Scores

 The NCAA released the latest Academic Progress Rate report with five Eastern Illinois programs posting multi-year rates of 1,000. Men’s cross country, beach volleyball, women’s cross country, women’s golf and women’s tennis each recorded perfect rates while eight additional programs at EIU surpassed the NCAA overall APR of 984.

The national four-year Academic Progress Rate for Division I student-athletes is 984, the same as the last publicly reported rate from last May.  As a league the Ohio Valley Conference had 31 teams with a perfect 1,000 APR rate.

 

The public announcement of APRs returned last May (2024) after a one-year hiatus. The Division I Board of Directors approved the continual suspension of APR penalties for an additional year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it supported the public release of the APR data.

It marked the sixth straight reporting cycle that women’s golf has posted a 1,000 and the third straight cycle for the women’s cross country program.  It marked the third time in the last four reporting cycles that men’s cross country posted 1,000.

EIU women’s track & field just missed the perfect score posting a 998.  Women’s basketball, women’s swimming and softball followed with scores of 996.  Men’s soccer was next at 990 followed by men’s tennis at 989 and women’s soccer 986.  Volleyball rounded out the 13 EIU teams at or above the national average of 984 with a score of 984. 

When the NCAA publicly reported data in May of 2020, EIU had six teams with a perfect 1,000 rate.  During the last publicly reported data in May of 2022, EIU had four teams with a perfect 1,000 rate.

 

Each academic year, every Division I sports team across the country calculates its APR using a simple and consistent formula. Each term, scholarship student-athletes can earn one point for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. For schools that do not offer scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.

 

The minimum APR academic standard for each team is 930. Typically, teams that scored below the benchmark would have to face penalties that encourage an emphasis and prioritization on academics. However, due to the current penalty suspension in place, teams will not be subjected to penalties this year. In 2021, APR data was not released publicly, and penalties were not assessed.