Kayla Peeples
The APR and GSR do not parallel perfectly, but the UGA academic department of athletes are not worried the scores’ shortcomings should be seen quite as a bad thing.
“I think it’s less important to know what a 930 represents, that’s really the penalty structure. What it is designed to do is put everybody in competition; so for example we never talk about our APR number in terms in where it’s related to the penalty,” said Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services, Ted White.
Athletic departments need to maintain a minimum of 930 to stay afloat of penalties from the NCAA. According to White, APR and GSR scores fluctuate and the real treasure of APR lies in competition with other institutions in the same division.
The question that matters the most to White: How does UGA rank amongst Division 1 member institutions in the Southerneastern Conference?
“What’s Alabama’s APR? What’s Georgia Tech’s APR? What’s Florida’s APR and where do we stack up with our competitors? Which to me becomes a more valuable thing because then you’re talking about who wants to be first,” said White behind his desk in Rankin, the student athlete academic center. “Who wants to be the best and who wants to be the top? And you’re driving it that way rather worrying about whether you meet the minimum standards.”
In the past two years, the UGA football program kept up with Alabama, Georgia Tech and Florida. Although in 2012, UGA and Florida both scored a 968, placing them not too far behind.
The APR was introduced to prevent colleges and universities from not successfully graduating their athletes but still able to compete in competition. There is the concentration to win but there needed to be a better system implemented nationwide to insure athletic departments were doing their best to graduate its students.
“I think there’s a lot of debate and argument on whether a 930 actually equates to a 50 percent graduation rate but in my mind why would you want to be either? Why would want to be a 50 percent graduation rate? Why would you want to be at a 930, that’s ridiculous,” said White. “So we should be talking about how we get to 100 percent graduation rate. How do we get to number one in the conference, number one nationwide, how do we get impact as high as a graduation rate and APR score as we possibly can.”
In a year’s difference the football team saw a 13 percent increase in its graduation rates from 2011 to 2012—the same for men’s basketball and cross-country.
On the surface the 13 percent increase across the board may seen as a coincidence, but just how numbers can be transparent so was the reason why athlete programs' graduation rates are rising.
“I would like to think that the uptick is a part of those groups being included in the cohort impacting it positively,” said White.
The reference to the freshmen and sophomore classes of 2005 to 2007 who entered along with the new policies that required student-athletes to have daily mentor sessions, participate in tutoring, and class check-ins from academic services.
There are no shortcuts, there are no handouts and there is no special treatment for players; like their nonstudent-athlete peers, academic hard work starts in the classroom.
“If a student-athlete wants to graduate they have to get 121 credits like everybody else,” said White.
Classrooms where student-athletes leave their cleats at the door and just as their classmates are students at the University of Georgia. Although the unease threat of not being able to actively participate in class for fear of feeling embarrassed lingers.
“You’re going to feel uncomfortable and nervous and some students will not go to class unless we force them to go to class but our idea is that if you go there long enough it becomes familiar and you get confident enough and to where it’s not a big deal,” said White.
The road to high a graduation rate of the football team seen declines and inclines since the NCAA instituted the GSR in 2005. The 82 percent rate for 2012 is the highest the football has achieved and reflects the change not only of the administration, but mindset of players.
The FGR fails to acknowledge that change.
“We have a lot of student athletes, particularly in football that come back to graduate but those are invisible to the Federal rate because the Federal rate is a six year window if you don’t graduate in those six years you don’t count ever,” said White.
“I think it’s less important to know what a 930 represents, that’s really the penalty structure. What it is designed to do is put everybody in competition; so for example we never talk about our APR number in terms in where it’s related to the penalty,” said Associate Athletic Director for Academic Services, Ted White.
Athletic departments need to maintain a minimum of 930 to stay afloat of penalties from the NCAA. According to White, APR and GSR scores fluctuate and the real treasure of APR lies in competition with other institutions in the same division.
The question that matters the most to White: How does UGA rank amongst Division 1 member institutions in the Southerneastern Conference?
“What’s Alabama’s APR? What’s Georgia Tech’s APR? What’s Florida’s APR and where do we stack up with our competitors? Which to me becomes a more valuable thing because then you’re talking about who wants to be first,” said White behind his desk in Rankin, the student athlete academic center. “Who wants to be the best and who wants to be the top? And you’re driving it that way rather worrying about whether you meet the minimum standards.”
In the past two years, the UGA football program kept up with Alabama, Georgia Tech and Florida. Although in 2012, UGA and Florida both scored a 968, placing them not too far behind.
The APR was introduced to prevent colleges and universities from not successfully graduating their athletes but still able to compete in competition. There is the concentration to win but there needed to be a better system implemented nationwide to insure athletic departments were doing their best to graduate its students.
“I think there’s a lot of debate and argument on whether a 930 actually equates to a 50 percent graduation rate but in my mind why would you want to be either? Why would want to be a 50 percent graduation rate? Why would you want to be at a 930, that’s ridiculous,” said White. “So we should be talking about how we get to 100 percent graduation rate. How do we get to number one in the conference, number one nationwide, how do we get impact as high as a graduation rate and APR score as we possibly can.”
In a year’s difference the football team saw a 13 percent increase in its graduation rates from 2011 to 2012—the same for men’s basketball and cross-country.
On the surface the 13 percent increase across the board may seen as a coincidence, but just how numbers can be transparent so was the reason why athlete programs' graduation rates are rising.
“I would like to think that the uptick is a part of those groups being included in the cohort impacting it positively,” said White.
The reference to the freshmen and sophomore classes of 2005 to 2007 who entered along with the new policies that required student-athletes to have daily mentor sessions, participate in tutoring, and class check-ins from academic services.
There are no shortcuts, there are no handouts and there is no special treatment for players; like their nonstudent-athlete peers, academic hard work starts in the classroom.
“If a student-athlete wants to graduate they have to get 121 credits like everybody else,” said White.
Classrooms where student-athletes leave their cleats at the door and just as their classmates are students at the University of Georgia. Although the unease threat of not being able to actively participate in class for fear of feeling embarrassed lingers.
“You’re going to feel uncomfortable and nervous and some students will not go to class unless we force them to go to class but our idea is that if you go there long enough it becomes familiar and you get confident enough and to where it’s not a big deal,” said White.
The road to high a graduation rate of the football team seen declines and inclines since the NCAA instituted the GSR in 2005. The 82 percent rate for 2012 is the highest the football has achieved and reflects the change not only of the administration, but mindset of players.
The FGR fails to acknowledge that change.
“We have a lot of student athletes, particularly in football that come back to graduate but those are invisible to the Federal rate because the Federal rate is a six year window if you don’t graduate in those six years you don’t count ever,” said White.