Ten Teams Post Perfect Multi-Year Academic Progress Rates

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — Ten Boston College teams earned a perfect score of 1,000 on the latest multi-year academic progress rate (APR) data released today by the NCAA. The scores include data from the 2019-20 through the 2022-23 academic years.

The 10 BC programs that earned perfect multi-year APR scores of 1,000: men's cross country, men's track & field, men's fencing, men's skiing, women's basketball, women's fencing, women's golf, women's ice hockey, women's skiing, and women's tennis.

In total, 18 BC teams scored 990 or better, 23 had a score of 980 or better, and 22 teams posted multi-year APR scores higher than the national Division I average. Among ACC peers, Boston College ranks fourth with 10 teams with a multi-year of 1,000. BC's multi-year average APR for all sports was 993 out of 1000.

Nineteen of BC's 25 programs which were listed on the 2022-23 APR institutional report posted a perfect score of 1,000, including 12 of 14 women's programs and eight of 11 on the men's side. BC's average APR score for the 2022-23 academic year was 992.

Women's lacrosse, which captured the 2024 NCAA Championship and has advanced to the national title game in each of the last seven seasons, posted a multi-year score of 997 - the 17th consecutive season in which the program has compiled a multi-year APR of 990 or better. Football's score of 984 was the sixth-highest in the ACC and ranked well above the national multi-year averages among all Division I institutions (962) and schools at the FBS level (967).

Women's basketball was one of four ACC programs to post a multi-year APR of 1,000 while men's basketball continued its five-year pattern of continued growth, posting a multi-year APR score of 977 - the highest multi-year mark in 14 years.

Nationally, the four-year Academic Progress Rate national average for Division I teams remained steady at 984 this year, as the division marked the 20th anniversary of APR data collection. During those 20 years, overall student-athlete academic success has risen substantially. Compared with the four-year period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (2015-16 through 2018-19), the overall national four-year average across all sports increased one point. At the sport level, changes in the national average were small. Compared with pre-pandemic averages, baseball increased one point to 978, football fell one point to 963, men's basketball increased two points to 968 and women's basketball decreased two points to 981.

Additionally, over the past 20 years, 21,365 former student-athletes have returned to the classroom after exhausting their athletics eligibility to complete degrees and earn APR points for their former team. Nearly 11,000 of these individuals returning to graduate were former football, baseball, and men's and women's basketball student-athletes. These student-athletes are typically not counted as graduates in the federal graduation rate or Graduation Success Rate calculations.

In the past 35 years, the program has awarded over $30 million to more than 2,900 student-athletes. Additionally, in 2018 the Division I Board of Directors adopted legislation to require schools to provide degree completion funding specifically to former men's and women's basketball student-athletes. This legislation also established a fund for limited resource institutions. Schools may apply through the Degree Achievement Program for assistance in providing tuition dollars to eligible former student-athletes. This summer, the legislation will expand to require Division I schools to fund degree completion opportunities for former student-athletes across all sports who meet certain criteria.

Each academic year, every Division I sports team's APR is calculated using a simple and consistent formula. Scholarship student-athletes can earn 1 point for staying on course for a degree in their chosen major and 1 point for being retained (or graduating) at the end of each academic term. For schools that do not offer athletics scholarships, recruited student-athletes are tracked.

This is the third consecutive year of publicly reported APRs after a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, the Division I board approved the release of APR scores but voted to continue the suspension of program penalties. After further review, the Committee on Academics is not enforcing the loss of access to postseason competition for teams that have scored lower than 930. Instead, a conditional waiver is being offered this year due to lingering impacts of COVID-19.

A full list of APRs for each team, including the Top 10, can be accessed by using the APR searchable database.

Ten Teams Post Perfect Multi-Year Academic Progress Rates

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