Feb. 28, 2005
Columbia, S.C. –
The University of South Carolina Athletics Department, in conjunction with the NCAA, released its Academic Progress Rate (APR) Report for the 2003-04 academic year on Monday. This report is for information purposes only and no contemporaneous penalties will apply this year.
Had this report been enforced this year, only one USC team, men’s basketball, would have been subject to the contemporaneous penalty and would have lost the ability to award two scholarships for the next academic year.
The data submitted showed that seven USC teams fell below the 925 cut score set by the NCAA Committee on Academic Performance. Those teams include: baseball, men’s basketball, football, men’s soccer, men’s tennis, and men’s indoor and outdoor track. However, six of those seven teams have an estimated APR upper confidence boundary of 925 or above (see explanation on second page). Penalties will be based upon data from the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years. Schools will receive a letter in December, 2005 notifying them of any penalties. The fall of 2006 will be the first semester schools would be impacted by scholarship reductions.
“Based upon this trial report, we would have been restricted by two men’s basketball scholarships,” said Mike McGee, Director of Athletics. “Our goal is to have continued progress among those teams falling within the lower confidence level and the cut score and work towards improvement across the board.”
Note: South Carolina’s APR report can be found on the NCAA web site (ncaa.org)
General Explanation of APR Report
o Points are awarded each semester for academic eligibility and retention (2 points possible per semester)
o Total Points Earned = a number x 1000 = APR rate
Total Points Possible
o Cut APR score set at 925
o Teams falling below the 925 rate will be subject to contemporaneous penalties
o A “confidence boundary” will be applied for all teams for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 academic years. Given that only small sample sizes are available to analyze, confidence boundaries have been established for each sport, which will aid in ensuring that any penalties given to teams with small sample sizes are as statistically valid as those for teams with large sample sizes. A confidence boundary of 84% will be applied to determine each team’s subjectivity to contemporaneous penalties. This means that the upper confidence boundary of a team’s APR score will have to be below 925 for that team to be subject to contemporaneous penalties. Confidence boundaries will be reduced and potentially eliminated, as more data is available.
o Teams will lose a scholarship for each “0/2” student – that for each student who leaves the institution while academically ineligible to participate.
o Penalty is capped at 10% of a team’s scholarship limit (Ex: Football is capped at 9 and M. Basketball is capped at 2)
o Penalties will be based on 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 data
o Schools will receive a letter in December 2005 notifying them of the penalties
o Fall 2006 will be the first time schools would be impacted by scholarship reductions
