APR Demystified

AN OLE MISS ATHLETICS PRODUCTION THE NEW APR: DEMYSTIFIED Recently, the NCAA announced a number of changes to the collegiate athletics rulebook that will undoubtedly greatly impact the entire industry. Since most fans will not comb through the details of the legislation, we'll simplify a number of these issues on olemisssports.com to give our fans an understanding of how it affects college sports. While the $2,000 "cost of living" increase has garnered most of the headlines, the Academic Progress Rate (APR) changes can be even more significant. WHAT IS APR AND WHY DOES IT EXIST? The NCAA defines it as a term-by-term realtime measure of eligibility and retention for Division I scholarship student-athletes that was developed as an early indicator of eventual graduation rates. Think of APR as the NCAA's academic measuring stick for entire teams. Iulululululululululululululululululubululululululululululululululul To use an analogy most are familiar with - if a student-athlete's GPA measures grades (by semester and cumulatively) and is one of many factors that determine an individual's eligibility to compete, the APR measures the collective academic success or failure of a team or institution. Furthermore, APR scores that don't meet the minimum can carry penalties such as post-season ineligibility, practice restrictions, and/or scholarship reductions. HOW IS IT CALCULATED? RETENTION ELIGIBLE APR takes just two components into account: eligibility and retention. In addition, it's measured each semester for each student-athlete (in the form of points) and those points factor into a team score. At the student-athlete level, here are some common scenarios: ? + ? POINTS POINTS Student-athlete remains academically eligible in the Fall semester and returns to school in the Spring. To be considered ELIGIBLE RETENTION 1 + 1 academically eligiblë a student-athlete ........ must: Student-athlete does not remain academically eligible in the Fall semester, but returns to school in the Spring. Meet satisfactory progress* ELIGIBLE RETENTION 0 + 1 Have the requisite GPA Student-athlete does not remain academically eligible and does not come back to school in the Spring. Have the correct % of degree ELIGIBLE RETENTION +RK = *Pass 6 degree hours each semester and 18 degree hours during the academic year So if that's how points are awarded, how are they compiled into a team APR number? A team's total points are divided by points possible and then multiplied by one thousand to equal the team's Academic Progress Rate. Using a couple of the above scenarios, below is an example for a Division I football team. ACADEMIC PROGRESS RATE STEP 1 Calculate the denominator 166 170 Assume we have given out 85 scholarships. Since each student-athlete can earn up to two points, our total points possible for the Fall semester is 170. Calculate the numerator w/ these assumptions: STEP 2 82 student-athletes remained academically eligible and returned to school for the Spring semester. (82 Eligibility Points + 82 Retention Points = 164 points) 976 2 student-athletes were not academically eligible, but returned for the Spring semester. (0 Eligibility Points + 2 Retention Points = 2 points) 1 student-athlete did not remain academically eligible and did not return for the Spring semester. (0 Eligibility Points + 0 Retention Points = 0 points) 1000 TOTAL: 166 976 APR STEP 3 Converting to APR As you can see, the fraction is: 166/170 OR a decimal value of .976. To make scores more "user-friendly" the decimal value is multiplied by 1,000 to give us an APR of 976 for the fall semester, or a"Mid-Year APR." Repeat the process after the Spring semester to calculate the APR for the year. This single-year APR becomes part of the 4-year rolling average. APR 1.0 VS APR 2.0 The most revised APR legislation affects how high the bar is set and the penalties associated with missing the mark more than it affects how the number is calculated. There are two core changes to the benchmarks. The first change is increasing the four-year APR benchmark from 925 to 930. See the below table for a year-by-year breakdown of how the benchmarks will be phased in. Second is a new penalty structure. In the previous APR model, teams could face contempora- neous penalties (scholarship loss, postseason ban, etc.) for one-year scores below 925 and historical penalties for low four-year APR scores below 900. Below is the year-by-year breakdown of how the benchmarks will be phased in: APR CALCULATED USING FOURYEAR TWO MOST POSTSEASON DATA FROM THESE AVERAGE APR RECENTYEARS COMPETITION ACADEMIC YEARS FOR POSTSEAON AVERAGE APR YEAR ELIGIBILITY FOR POSTSEASON ELIGIBILITY 07-08, 08-09, 09-10, 10-11 900 930 2012-13 08-09, 09-10, 10-11, 11-12 900 930 2013-14 09-10, 10-11, 930 940 2014-15 11-12 12-13 10-11, 11-12, 12-13, 13-14 930 2015-16 11-12, 12-13, 13-14, 14-15 930 2016-17 A four-year APR score of at least 900 (or a 930 average over the two most recent years) will be required for post-season competition conducted during the 2012-2013 and 2013-2014 academic years. A four-year APR score of at least 930 (or a 940 average over the two most recent years) will be required for post-season competition conducted during the 2014-2015 academic year. Beginning during the championship conducted during the 2015-2016 academic year, each team must have achieved the 930 four-year APR score as a minimum academic standard to participate in post-season competition. APR numbers for all institutions can be found at www.ncaa.org AN OLE MISS ATHLETICS PRODUCTION