CHICAGO – The overall four-year Academic Progress Rate (APR) for the University of Illinois at Chicago concluding with the 2017-18 academic year rose three points from the previous report to 986. That is three points higher than the overall national mark of 983.
Three UIC programs – women's cross country, women's tennis and women's track and field – posted perfect multi-year rates of 1,000. All three were honored last week with
NCAA Public Recognition Awards for landing in the top 10 percent of their respective sports. Cross country earned the distinction for the second year in a row, and the fourth time overall since 2011-12. Women's track and field was recognized for the second consecutive year, as well. Women's tennis received its first NCAA Public Recognition Award this year.
Six other groups of Flames – softball (997), women's swimming and diving (997), men's tennis (991), women's basketball (991), women's soccer (990) and volleyball (985) – exceeded the national average. To compete in the 2019-20 postseason, teams must achieve a 930 four-year APR. Every UIC team achieved that mark and is well above the threshold.
UIC's single-year APR for 2017-18 is 990. That is a 14-point increase from 2016-17 and puts the Flames in the 75
th percentile in Division I. That is the highest mark since coming in at the 67
th percentile in 2015. The rate is higher than both the Horizon League average (988) and the average for all Division I institutions in Illinois (987).
"To be ranked so highly among not only our peer institutions, but every Division I school in the country is something we all take a tremendous amount of pride in," said Director of Intercollegiate Athletics
Garrett Klassy. "It is so important to continue improve the rates every year across the board and this report is a testament to that achievement."
"We are proud of the continued high level of academic success Division I student-athletes achieve," said NCAA President Mark Emmert in a statement.
The APR, created to provide more of a real-time measurement of academic success than graduation rates offer, is a team-based metric where scholarship student-athletes earn one point each term for remaining eligible and one point for staying in school or graduating. Schools that don't offer scholarships track their recruited student-athletes.
Every Division I sports team submits data to have its Academic Progress Rate calculated each academic year. The NCAA reports both single-year rates and four-year rates, on which penalties for poor academic performance are based. National aggregates are based on all teams with usable, member-provided data. APRs for each team, lists of teams receiving public recognition and those receiving sanctions are available online through the NCAA's searchable database.
