General | May 2, 2023
PHILADELPHIA – The La Salle University women's soccer and men's golf programs ranked first among Atlantic 10 programs in Academic Progress Rate, as the NCAA released new data for all Division I schools through the 2021-22 academic year on Tuesday.
The Explorers' women's soccer program accrued a near-perfect score of 998, and shared the highest mark in the A-10 with Duquesne. Men's golf registered an APR score of 992, good for top honors in the league alongside Loyola Chicago and Richmond.
Ten of La Salle's 16 NCAA-sponsored sports showed year-over-year improvement in APR, including women's cross country, field hockey, women's soccer, women's swimming & diving, women's track & field, women's water polo, men's cross country, men's soccer, men's swimming & diving, and men's track & field.
Finally, La Salle women's cross country, men's cross country, women's soccer, men's soccer, men's track & field, and men's golf all performed above the national APR average in their respective sports.
"Excellence is engrained in student-athletes — academically and athletically. Thousands of former student-athletes are returning to college to complete their degrees, further demonstrating the importance of higher education and exemplifying the fulfillment of earning a college degree," said Division I Committee on Academics Chair Robert Davies, president of Central Michigan.
ABOUT NCAA ACADEMIC PROGRESS RATE
Each academic year, every Division I sports team across the country calculates its APR using a simple and consistent formula. Each term, scholarship student-athletes can earn 1 point for remaining eligible and 1 point for staying in school or graduating. For schools that do not offer scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.
The Academic Performance Program has established an essential framework for academic excellence. The program provides measurable goals to ensure schools are fulfilling their commitment of equipping student-athletes with the tools and resources necessary to achieve academic success.
Throughout 19 years of the Academic Performance Program, more than 20,700 student-athletes have gone back to school to earn their degrees, earning APR points for their former team. These student-athletes are typically not counted in the federal graduation rate or Graduation Success Rate calculations.
The minimum APR academic standard for each team is 930. Typically, teams that scored below the benchmark would have to face penalties that encourage an emphasis and prioritization on academics. However, due to the current penalty suspension in place, teams falling below the minimum 930 score will not be subjected to penalties this year.
