Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Student-Athletes Surpass NCAA Academic Performance Standards
5/27/2015 3:39:00 PM | General
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Last week Bucknell Athletics received 19 NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) National Recognition Awards, the second-highest total among all Division I institutions, and on Wednesday the NCAA followed up with the release of team-by-team APR data. Once again this year all 27 Bison squads surpassed the NCAA's academic performance standards.
The APR is a formula created 12 years ago that is used to track student-athlete eligibility and retention. As it has every year, Bucknell graded very well in the APR report, with all 27 programs easily meeting the 925-point cutoff. Scores under 930 could result in certain NCAA-imposed penalties, including loss of scholarships and ineligibility for postseason play.
Under the APR system, a student-athlete can be awarded two points per semester - one for remaining academically eligible throughout the semester and another for being retained for the next term. Team percentages are then calculated to determine its APR.
The latest APR data represents a four-year average for the 2010-11, 2011-12, 2012-13 and 2013-14 academic years. The NCAA evaluates programs based on a four-year rolling average.
According to the latest round of data, 19 Bison teams have perfect 1,000 scores in the four-year average. Those programs are baseball, men's basketball, field hockey, men's and women's cross country, women's golf, men's lacrosse, men's and women's soccer, softball, women's swimming and diving, women's tennis, men's and women's indoor track and field, men's and women's outdoor track and field, volleyball and men's and women's water polo.
Men's basketball is one of 16 programs in the nation with a score of 1,000. Men's lacrosse is one of only three, joining Duke and Notre Dame. Men's soccer and men's water polo are both one of just five with a perfect score, while women's water polo is in a group of seven programs with 1,000 marks.
In addition to the 19 teams with perfect APR scores, four other Bison squads – women's basketball (989), men's tennis (992), men's swimming and diving (994) and women's lacrosse (993) – are all at 989 or higher.
The national average for all sports is 978, up two points from last year's report.
Bucknell annually ranks among the national leaders in graduation rates, and it ranks fifth among all Division I programs in total number of Academic All-Americans with 126.
Bucknell is a highly-selective, privately endowed liberal arts institution with an enrollment of approximately 3,500 undergraduate students. Bucknell competes in NCAA Division I as a member of the Patriot League and has full membership along with American, Army West Point, Boston University, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lafayette, Lehigh, Loyola University Maryland and Navy. Bucknell has won the Presidents' Cup, signifying the Patriot League's all-sports champion, in 18 of 25 years.
