UNM, NMSU satisfy NCAA APR standards

Schools nationwide making progress

The University of New Mexico for the 12th consecutive year has every sport pass the standards set in NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR). Figures were released Tuesday.

New Mexico State did likewise, all of its sports exceeding the NCAA’s mininum APR academic standard for each program of 930.

This spring, the Division I Board of Directors voted to continue to suspend APR penalties — ranging from practice hours or postseason bans — for an additional year due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, it supported the public release of the APR data.

This year’s four-year rolling report, which includes up through the 2020-21 academic year, detailed that 11 of UNM’s 16 sports equal or better last year’s four-year score.

The Lobos had perfect scores of 1,000 from women’s golf, women’s soccer and women’s tennis. New Mexico State likewise had a perfect score in women’s tennis of 1000.

At both UNM and NMSU, the lowest scores are from football — 935 for the Lobos, 940 for the Aggies. The football average nationally is 964.

APR is a combination of eligibility and retention scores. Scholarship

players accumulate one point each semester for remaining academically eligible and another point each semester for remaining enrolled on campus or graduating.

Teams that don’t offer scholarships are calculated based on players who were recruited.

The NCAA announced the fouryear overall Academic Progress Rate hit 984, a one-point increase over the most recent publicly available figures from May 2020.

This year, men’s basketball made a 2-point jump to 968. Baseball (977), football (964) and women’s basketball (983) all remained even with the numbers posted in the 2020 report.

This is the 16th year of that APR scores have been issued. DILBERT