Under a new NCAA academic-reform initiative, teams that struggle in the classroom may lose one or more athletic scholarships for one year, beginning next year. Here are some basic questions and answers about the NCAA's plan:
Q: What is the NCAA doing and why?
A: The NCAA is trying to improve athletes' graduation rates by punishing teams that chronically under-perform in the classroom. To measure academic success, the NCAA has computed an Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the 5,270 men's and women's teams in Division I. Teams with an APR below 925 will lose an athletic scholarship for one year for each athlete who gets in academic trouble and quits school without graduating.
Q: How is the APR computed, and what's the significance of 925?
A: Each scholarship athlete on a roster can score two points -- one for maintaining a grade-point average that keeps him or her on track to graduate; one for returning to school the next semester. The APR is the total points scored by the team, divided by the total points possible, and multiplied by 1,000.
Example: A soccer team has 10 scholarship athletes. One signs a contract with D.C. United and leaves school early, but in good academic standing; he scores one point. Another player gets a D-average and quits school; he scores zero points. Everyone else is in good academic standing and stays in school; they score 16 points. The team's APR is 17 divided by 20 (0.850), multiplied by 1,000 (850). Because 850 is below the 925 cutoff, the team won't be allowed to re-award the scholarship of the player who dropped out in poor academic standing for one year.
An APR of 1,000 is perfect. An APR of 925 equates to about a 50-percent graduation rate and is considered minimally acceptable. Anything below 925 subjects a team to possible scholarship reductions.
Q: What teams will lose scholarships?
A: Two things must happen for a team to lose a scholarship. Its APR must be below 925 and one or more players must have left school early in poor academic standing. If a team has an APR of 900, and one player quit school, the team wouldn't lose a scholarship as long as the player was in good academic standing when he left. Similarly, if a team has an APR of 930, and one player flunked out, the team wouldn't lose a scholarship because the team's APR is above 925.
Q: Is there a limit on how many scholarships a team can lose?
A: Yes, no team will lose more than 10 percent of its scholarship allotment in a given year. In football, where 85 scholarships are allowed, no more than nine scholarships would be lost in a worst-case scenario.
Q: When will this start?
A: Universities will be notified of penalties in December after two years' worth of APR data have been compiled (for the 2003-04 and 2004-05 school years). Scholarship reductions take effect the following semester. For the first two years, when the APR is based on two- and three-years' worth of data, teams with small rosters (such as basketball) will face a more lenient cutoff to prevent them from being penalized for having one or two poor students. In time, the APR will be based on four-years' worth of data and 925 will be a firm cutoff.
Q: Are there loopholes?
A: Plenty. College sports has plenty of coaches who are well versed in NCAA rules. Athletes can be steered to easy classes and friendly professors with generous grading scales. Also, the cuts apply to athletic scholarships only. A team that loses athletic scholarships can still fill those spots on its roster with athletes whose tuition is paid by another means.
