Academics

Division I completes second year of APR data collection

The NCAA has completed data collection for the second year of Academic Progress Rates in Division I. The bulk of the report was completed last month, but eight schools still had appeals pending. Those institutions have now completed the process.

The final statistics for all Division I schools show 111 teams from 72 institutions incurred some type of contemporaneous penalty. Of those 111 teams, 102 are men’s teams and nine are women’s teams. Further, 46 teams (41.4 percent) are from Division I-A institutions, 52 teams (46.8 percent) are from Division I-AA institutions, 12 teams (10.8 percent) are from Division I-AAA institutions and one team (.9 percent) is from a non-Division I institution (multi-divisional).

This year’s APR, based on 2004-05 academic data, begins the penalty phase of academic reform, as last year’s data were used to identify poor-performing teams and warn of possible scholarship losses. More serious consequences, which could include limits on postseason competition and restricted-membership status, await teams that continue to academically under-perform, as part of the historically based penalty structure.

The complete list of teams receiving penalties and their institutions, along with other national APR data, can be located at www.ncaa.org.

Financial aid

Division III concludes initial year of financial aid review

The Division III Financial Aid Committee has completed its review of justifications provided by 48 institutions included in a Level II review of schools whose aid to newly enrolled student-athletes during the 2004-05 academic year exceeded aid awarded to the general student body by at least 4 percent.

The committee accepted 19 of the justifications, accepted another four with conditions, and forwarded the remaining 25 justifications to the NCAA enforcement staff for further review.

A total of 60 institutions’ reports were included in a Level I review late last year, in which the committee approved the reports of two institutions and approved with conditions reports from 10 other institutions. The remaining 48 institutions then were moved to the Level II review.

Altogether, 57 institutions actually reported variances exceeding 4 percent. Three other institutions whose original reports indicated variances above 4 percent submitted corrected data that resulted in a variance below that threshhold.

The reporting process is the biggest compliance initiative ever in Division III and supports one of the division’s bedrock principles: student-athletes should be treated like all other students in the awarding of financial aid.

The 2006-07 reporting process will begin July 1 — the first day of a three-month period during which institutions will be required to submit financial aid data for student-athletes and other students who enrolled for the first time during the 2005-06 academic year. The deadline for the next cycle of reporting is September 29 (the last Friday in September).

The next review by the Financial Aid Committee will include institutions selected randomly regardless of variance, meaning that any Division III institutions potentially can be included in the full review process.

For more information, see the March 13, 2006, issue of The NCAA News.