Friday, February 7, 2025

W&M Athletics Excels in NCAA Academic Progress Rate

(Courtesy William & Mary)

INDIANAPOLIS — William & Mary Athletics continued to excel in the classroom with the NCAA releasing its latest Academic Progress Rate (APR).

The Tribe’s APR for 2020-21 was 996 among its 21 programs (indoor and outdoor track and field are combined), while its multi-year APR was 991, ahead of the national average of 984. The APR included data from the 2017-18 academic year through the 2020-21 academic year.

In total, 17 Tribe programs achieved perfect APRs in 2020-21 and 10 produced perfect multi-year APRs. All W&M programs ranked ahead of the national average among all Division I programs and also among all public institutions.

The 17 teams that sported 1,000 APRs in 2020-21 included men’s cross country, men’s golf, men’s soccer, men’s swimming, men’s track, men’s tennis, baseball, women’s track, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, field hockey, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s soccer, women’s tennis, volleyball and lacrosse. The perfect multi-year list features men’s golf, men’s gymnastics, men’s tennis, women’s basketball, women’s cross country, field hockey, women’s golf, women’s gymnastics, women’s swimming and volleyball.

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 18 years of the Academic Performance Program, more than 20,000 student-athletes have gone back to school to earn their degrees — earning points for their former team. These student-athletes are typically not counted in the federal graduation rate or Graduation Success Rate calculations.

The APR is another example of the Tribe’s success in the classroom. During the 2022 spring semester, W&M student-athletes produced a cumulative GPA of 3.38. In total, 22 programs produced a semester GPA of 3.0. A total of 200 Tribe student-athletes received the W&M Provost Award after a strong year of academic achievement. The Provost Award program began in 2003-04, and recognizes athletes who maintain over a 3.5 GPA.

During the fall, the Tribe once again ranked highly in the NCAA’s annual graduation rate reports, coming in second among all Division I and Division II public institutions in Federal Graduation Rate. W&M’s 86% FGR was well ahead of the national average for all student-athletes (69%). It ranked tied for 16th overall among all Division I schools and was the highest in the state of Virginia. W&M had 11 teams report a 100% GSR (men’s basketball, men’s cross country and track & field, men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s gymnastics, women’s lacrosse, women’s swimming and men’s and women’s tennis). In total, 18 of the Tribe’s 19 programs (cross country and track and field are combined) had GSRs of 90 or higher.

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