ACADEMICS

Division I institutions receive overall, sport APR reports

Academic Progress Rate (APR) data from 2003-04 have been sent to every Division I institution's chief executive officer for review. The reports provide each institution with its overall APR for 2003-04, as well as APRs for each NCAA championship sport the school sponsors.

The data project that about 7 percent of all teams will be subject to contemporaneous penalties (financial aid restrictions) beginning in 2005-06. About 51 percent of all Division I institutions would have at least one team that would be subject to penalty, and most of those teams are concentrated in football, baseball and men's basketball.

No contemporaneous penalties will be assessed based on the 2003-04 APR data, however. The penalty phase won't be implemented until next year, when two years of APR data are available.

The most meaningful number in the reports is 925, the APR score under which teams will be subject to contemporaneous penalty. That number was selected because it equates to a 50 percent graduation rate.

Football, baseball and men's basketball are the only sports whose average APR falls below 925. The 284 Division I baseball teams posted an average APR of 922, while the 234 football and 326 men's basketball squads compiled an average APR of 923. About 30 percent of football teams, 23 percent of baseball teams and 20 percent of men's basketball teams fell below the 925 cut-off.

STAFF CONTACT: Kevin Lennon (klennon@ncaa.org)

DIVISION II

Fall championships festival scheduled in Pensacola, Florida

The University of West Florida has been selected to host the 2006 Division II Fall National Championships Festival in Pensacola, Florida.

The event, the second of its kind, will be conducted November 15-20, 2006.

The fall festival will comprise Division II national championships in men's and women's cross country, field hockey, men's and women's soccer, and women's volleyball.

The NCAA Division II Championships Committee plans to conduct fall and spring championships festivals once every four years to give each class of student-athletes the opportunity to participate.

The festivals feature an opening ceremony, social opportunities for student-athletes, community events and a salute dinner for participating teams.

For more information, see page 1.

STAFF CONTACT: Sharon Cessna (scessna@ncaa.org)

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