FAYETTEVILLE - No University of Arkansas athletic teams will lose scholarships next year according to Academic Progress Rate (APR ) statistics released by the NCAA on Tuesday.

The APR is a formula the NCAA began using four years ago to rate how well schools retain and maintain eligibility for student-athletes.

Schools with teams not achieving the 925 benchmark are subject to penalties, including loss of scholarships and postseason bans.

Arkansas wasn't among the 123 schools listed by the NCAA with teams subject to penalties and is above the national average among its Division I peers for its men's basketball and football programs.

Arkansas State's men's basketball team and UALR's baseball team were on the NCAA's list of teams subject to penalties but won't be losing scholarships next year.

ASU posted a multiyear APR score of 893 in men's basketball, but no scholarships will be taken away, according to the NCAA's report, because "the team is performing better than the institution's general student body, or based on institutional, athletics and student resources."

UALR scored 888 in baseball, but the team is not subject to historical penalties, according to the NCAA report, because it has "demonstrated academic improvement and favorable comparison based on other academic or institutional factors."

The Razorbacks have a multiyear APR score of 944 for men's basketball compared with the national average of 928 and a 936 score in football compared with a national average of 934.

"I would say we're doing pretty good, but we're still not satisfied," Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long said in reference to scores for all of the UA's teams. "We want to be above the national average in every sport, and, ideally, we'd like to score 1, 000."

Arkansas' women's golf team has 1, 000 for its multiyear score - compared with a 974 national average - and is among 712 sports teams nationwide to receive public recognition for academic excellence from the NCAA.

An APR multiyear score of 925 - which the NCAA equates to an approximate graduation success rate of 60 percent - is considered the cutoff point at which teams could be penalized by losing up to 10 percent of their scholarships.

Arkansas' score in men's basketball is the same as its threeyear average was in last year's NCAA report. Football is up slightly from 934.

Baseball (914 ), cross country (918 ) and golf (917 ) did not achieve the 925 benchmark, but Arkansas won't face a reduction of scholarships or any other penalties in those sports because it didn't have any student-athletes leave who were academically ineligible.

"There are some sports where we need to do better," Long said. "But our coaches are working hard to get [the APR score ] up and on a good track for the future."

Long said adjusting to how the APR system works has been a challenge for coaches in every sport and the NCAA also has shown flexibility over the past four years in listening to coaches' concerns and making adjustments to the scoring system.

"It's a process," Long said. "But overall I'd say it's working and is helping all of the schools judge how our teams are doing academically."

At Arkansas-Pine Bluff, the women's tennis team was cited by the NCAA for academic excellence with its 1, 000 score while two men's sports - football and baseball - and women's bowling scored less than 925.

The Golden Lions were not subject to penalties in football (911 ) or baseball (908 ) because the teams are performing better than the school's general student body, or based on institutional, athletics and student resources.

Women's bowling scored an 897, but was not in line for scholarship penalties because of factors related to squad-size adjustments.

The University of Central Arkansas had several sports fall far short of the cut line, but because there has been only one year of data collected for UCA, it is not subject to scholarship reductions in any sports.

UCA's men's and women's golf teams posted scores of 1, 000.

More than 700 sports teams fell short of the NCAA-mandated 925 cutoff score, but only 218 were penalized with warning letters.

Tennessee was the hardest hit SEC school, with the Vols'baseball, men's basketball and men's swimming teams all making the list of squads subject to penalties.

South Carolina's men's basketball team and LSU's baseball team also made the subject to penalties list among SEC schools.

Tennessee and West Virginia, which also had three teams on the list, were the only Bowl Championship Series schools with more than one team penalized.

Alabama-Birmingham and San Jose State each had six teams cited as being subject to penalties, including football and men's basketball at both schools.

When a team does not improve its APR score after being cited for low totals, the punishments can become harsher with three consecutive scores under 900 leading to a postseason ban. A fourth consecutive offense would prevent them from competing at the Division I level.

Schools already facing a possible postseason ban include football teams at San Jose State, Southern University of Baton Rouge and Temple, and men's basketball teams at New Mexico, Centenary and East Carolina.

Women's teams continue to outperform men's teams overall, with a four-year average APR score of 969 compared to 951. Information for this article was contributed by The Associated Press and Tom Murphy of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. APR defined

The Academic Progress Rating is a numerical formula created by the NCAA that measures student-athlete performance based on eligibility and retention. Under certain conditions, schools and their teams are penalized if they do not meet the 925 standard. TEAMS PENALIZED 218 of 6, 272 IMMEDIATE PENALITIES 113 IMMEDIATE PENALTY / PUBLIC WARNING 35 PUBLIC WARNING 44 HISTORICALLY BASED 26 Losing two

Eight Division I programs have lost two scholarships in men's basketball: Colorado State, Jacksonville State, Lamar University, Liberty, San Jose State, Ala.-Birmingham, Colorado and Southern Cal.