Kansas University on Wednesday released its 2008 Academic Progress Rate statistics, and for the first time since its inception during the 2003-04 academic year, each of the school’s 18 athletic programs earned satisfactory marks from the NCAA.
Of the school’s 18 athletic programs, three — men’s basketball and men’s and women’s cross country — recorded perfect 1,000-point scores, while nine earned scores of 970 or higher, and no program finished below 941.
The APR, a way for the NCAA to gauge the academic success of a school’s scholarship athletes over a four-year period, is based on a point system that rewards athletic teams when athletes on scholarship maintain eligibility and remain at KU. A perfect score of 1,000 indicates that each scholarship athlete that did not transfer or go pro in a particular program both stayed at Kansas and stayed eligible. In order to remain in good standing with the NCAA and avoid possible sanctions, a program must score at least 925 (or earn 92.5 percent of possible points).
Football, baseball and women’s basketball — programs that have failed to meet the 925-point requirement at some point in recent years — easily did so this year, scoring 941, 960 and 959, respectively.
In only two instances, in fact, was there cause for concern. Two programs finished below the 925 standard for the 2007-08 school year (in addition to keeping a four-year score, the NCAA calculates scores on a yearly basis as well). Men’s track (outdoor) received a score of 912, and volleyball recorded the university’s lowest single-year score with 909.
Because both sports are above the 925 multi-year benchmark, however, the programs are subject only to institutional watch.
