INDIANAPOLIS (6/4/2024) -- The University of Detroit Mercy student-athletes kept up it's high rate of academic success as the NCAA released its latest Division I Academic Progress Rate (APR) on Tuesday. 
Detroit Mercy saw all 17 varsity programs post multi-year scores above the 930 NCAA qualifying mark, with eight tying or exceeding the national 984 standard, and four tallying perfect scores for the current period of the 2020-21 academic year through the 2023-24 academic year. 

"Our student-athletes are committed to success in the classroom," said Director of Student-Athlete Services Amy Gasahl '11 (MBA). "The high marks are a sign of their hard work and effort as well as the dedication of our University, professors, coaches and support staff that we have at Detroit Mercy."

The men's and women's cross country teams, women's golf and women's lacrosse each posted perfect 1,000 scores. It was the fourth straight year for women's cross country, the third consecutive year for men's cross country, and back-to-back perfect marks for women's golf and women's lacrosse.

Also above the national mark were men's golf (991), men's fencing (987), women's soccer (987) and women's track and field (984).

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 by 1 point to 978, football fell by 1 point to 963, men's basketball increased by 2 points to 968, and women's basketball decreased by 2 points to 981.

Dave Schnase, NCAA vice president of academic and membership affairs, said, "Student-athletes have achieved incredible success in the classroom over the last 20 years, mostly due to the hard work and commitment to academic achievement by student-athletes on campuses across the country.

"In addition, the unprecedented success is in part due to the work of the Committee on Academics and its predecessor, the Committee on Academic Performance. The policy changes they made, including initial-eligibility standards and progress-toward-degree requirements, along with on-campus support for student-athletes, contributed to the high rates we are seeing now."