The NCAA recently released the academic progress rates average from 2008-12show each of WKU’s 19 athletic teams surpassed the NCAA’s required 900 APR score by at least 45 points.

Nine teams from WKU scored above 970, and the WKU Volleyball team scored a perfect 1,000 APR score. WKU has scored above 900 in each of the ten years the NCAA has tracked APR scores.

The APR scores are calculated in every Division I sports team each academic year based on the eligibility, graduation and retention of each scholarship student-athlete according to the NCAA’s official website.

WKU athletic director Todd Stewart said it has always been about the student before the athlete at WKU.

“I say it a lot, but I sincerely mean it – we take the term ‘student-athlete’ literally,” Stewart said. “It’s always good to see what I know is happening, that our students are dedicating themselves on a daily basis. That number certainly validates that.”

WKU’s average cumulative grade point average among all student athletes for 2012-13 was 3.05, with 53 percent maintaining a 3.0 GPA or better.

Stewart noted the number of student athletes that graduated this year, saying WKU is headed in the right direction.

“We had 108 students graduate this year and get their degrees, and that’s really what it’s all about,” Stewart said. “It’s about getting your degree so we’re very proud of what we’ve done academically and where we’re headed there.”