The APR is a real-time assessment of a team's academic performance, which awards two points each term to scholarship student-athletes who meet academic-eligibility standards and who remain with the institution. A team's APR is the total points earned by the team at a given time divided by the total points possible.
The GSR is an alternative graduation-rate methodology the NCAA will launch this fall. The new rate, which will supplement and not replace the federal methodology, credits institutions for incoming transfers who graduate. This will not adversely affect the team rate for outgoing transfers who leave the institution as long as they would have been academically eligible had they returned. The new rate also accounts for midyear enrollees and will be calculated for every sport. Data collection on four cohorts (1995-96 through 1998-99) will be available in March, with data due from institutions by mid-May.
The APR is part of a new academic reform program that began last year related to initial eligibility for prospective student-athletes and term-by-term progress toward earning a degree for current student-athletes. The new academic measurements will hold teams accountable and lead to increased academic success and graduation for student-athletes.
An APR score of 925 correlates to an expected graduation rate of approximately 50 percent, using the federal graduation rate methodology.
These are the most immediate penalties in the academic-reform structure. They occur when a team's APR (after an appropriate squad-size adjustment) is under the "cut" score (925) and loses a student-athlete who would not have been academically eligible had he or she returned to the institution (what's known as "0-for-2" under the APR calculations). A contemporaneous penalty means that teams cannot re-award that grant-in-aid to another player for one year.
The contemporaneous penalties are meant to give immediate feedback to specific teams, to inform them that some of their student-athletes are on the wrong track and need to make changes to turn things around academically. It is part of a larger academic reform package designed to improve the academic success and graduation of student-athletes.
Teams with an APR below the "cut" score are subject to contemporaneous penalties when a student-athlete on that team withdraws from the institution, does not return the following fall term and would not have been academically eligible to compete during the regular academic term following his or her departure.
A student-athlete subjects the institution to a penalty if he or she is "0-for-2" (student-athlete left the institution and would not have been academically eligible had he or she returned) for any regular academic term. A student-athlete who is a 2-for-2 in the fall semester but 0-for-2 in the spring semester (2-for-4 for the year) does subject the institution to penalty.
A maximum limit on the number of scholarships a team could lose in a given year has been set. The limit is approximately 10 percent of the maximum financial aid limit in the specific sport. A team is not subject to penalties in excess of this capped amount, unless the team has carryover penalties from the previous year. In addition, contemporaneous penalties are applied in addition to any other financial aid restrictions imposed on a team (e.g., penalties imposed due to infractions).
The contemporaneous penalties will be deducted from the NCAA maximum team financial aid limit, even if a team does not award the NCAA maximum number of scholarships in that sport.
EXAMPLE: Team X awards 11 scholarships annually in the sport of men's basketball. For the 2005-06 academic year, the men's basketball team is subject to a contemporaneous penalty of 2 scholarships. The NCAA maximum team amount in men's basketball is 13 scholarships. The penalized amount of 2 is deducted from the maximum limit of 13, resulting in a total of 11 men's basketball scholarships that may be awarded for the 2005-06 academic year. If the team annually awards only 11 scholarships, it still will be permitted to award the usual 11 scholarships for the 2005-06 academic year.
Teams must take contemporaneous penalties the academic year immediately following the student-athlete's departure, unless the institution already has received written notification of acceptance of its offers of athletics aid. If an institution already has committed all financial aid to prospective student-athletes for the current academic year and does not have enough scholarships available to apply the penalty, only then may an institution delay the penalty until the next academic year.
The first contemporaneous penalties will be based on APR scores from 2003-04 and 2004-05, and student-athlete departures in 2004-05. Institutions received 2003-04 APR reports in mid-February that included current APR scores by team and the overall rate for the college or university. The reports also indicated what contemporaneous penalties would have been applied had the sanctions been in effect this year. These reports are not made public because of the federal student privacy laws. Contemporaneous penalties take effect in 2005-06 and scholarship restrictions will apply in 2005-06 or 2006-07, depending on scholarship commitments previously made by institutions.
The APR eventually will be comprised of four years of APR data. The APR score initially used to implement contemporaneous penalties in fall 2005 will be based on two years of APR data (i.e., 2003-04 and 2004-05). Beginning in fall 2007, the APR will be based on four years of data (i.e., 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 and 2006-07). Every year thereafter, the most current year's data will be added and the oldest year of data will be removed, creating a four-year rolling rate.
Adjustments are made to the APR score for squad sizes to avoid unfair penalties. A squad-size adjustment is made relative to the number of scholarship student-athletes in the APR calculation, thus accounting for possible fluctuation in the short term due to squad size. There is no change to the team's APR score or to the 925 "cut" score.
The NCAA will account for small squad sizes using a standard statistical margin of error similar to that used in presidential polling. Variables playing a part in the adjustments are a team's academic performance, the number of student-athletes on the squad and the number of years of data available. This squad-size adjustment will likely be eliminated when additional years of data are available.
An institution may re-award the financial aid of a student-athlete who exhausted eligibility in the sport in which the aid was awarded. Although the countable financial aid may be re-awarded, the student-athlete still shall be used in calculating the team's APR score for each term in which he or she received the aid, including the last term before withdrawal.
Current data indicates football (28.6 percent), baseball (23.2 percent) and men's basketball (18.7 percent) will be the sports most impacted by the contemporaneous penalites unless and until behaviors begin to change.
The CAP Subcommittee on Appeals has the authority to waive penalties. An institution appealing the penalties may submit its waiver online.
The money from lost scholarships resides with the institution. It may be used for another sport, assuming that sport has not exceeded it maximum team limit and that team is not subject to penalties. The institution also may utilize the money for other areas on campus, such as academic services or operations.
The historical penalty structure will be finalized over the next year. As currently discussed, historical penalties will be based on the APR scores and GSR and are designed to be more punitive than contemporaneous penalties. Penalties will include additional scholarship reductions, recruiting restrictions, lack of access to postseason competition, and restricted membership.
In addition to contemporaneous penalties, if a sports team does not meet the minimum APR score, it will first receive a warning letter under the historical penalty structure. This will occur after 3 years of data has been collected. If a team does not meet the score for a second year, recruiting and/or financial aid limitations will be imposed.