ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 5 — Forty-one percent of this year's bowl-bound college football teams fall below the NCAA's new academic benchmark, and almost half of them lacked a 50 percent graduation rate, according to an annual survey released Monday.
The 56 Division 1-A football teams headed to bowl games have a lingering problem of too many student-athletes failing to complete their studies, said Richard Lapchick, the University of Central Florida professor who authored the annual report.
''The key is admitting students who are qualified to be in that school,'' said Lapchick, who heads the DeVos Sport Business Management Program at UCF.
This is the first year Lapchick has used the NCAA's Academic Progress Rate, known as APR, to measure the bowl-bound schools' academic progress. In past years, the study has relied solely on graduation rates.
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