The NCAA has released its latest APR statistics and therefore a list of programs that will be penalized for poor academic performance.

According to the Associated Press, the top Division I programs did fine, but the problem is schools outside of the five "power conferences" are struggling. 36 NCAA DI programs are ineligible for the upcoming postseason for a poor Academic Progress Rate (APR) and not one is from a power conference.

Of the 17 men's basketball and football teams banned from postseason play this year, 8 are from historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Both teams at Alabama State and Florida A&M face a postseason ban.

"While the low-resource institutions are overrepresented among the population (postseason bans) we're talking about today, they've made improvement, they've made significant improvement as a group," Walter Harrison, chairman of the NCAA's committee on academic performance, told the AP. "They're just starting at a lower spot. We're trying to help them with some advice and some financing."

The NCAA is also moving ahead with granting DI power conferences, named because they earn far more money than others, with more autonomy. The college sports governing body would like to allow the ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC to have more say in decisions affecting their programs.

The NCAA has given $4.3 million to the schools with low APR scores and in the bottom 15 percent in terms of funding. These programs have showed improvement over the last three years and HBCUs have jumped from an average APR score of 930 to 953 over the span of the last three reports.

The APR penalties are divided into three levels and are meant to take away time on the field to refocus the school's athletes toward the classroom. "We've seen APR scores of HBCUs and low-resource schools improving, so we feel good about that," NCAA President Mark Emmert told the AP. "But you never feel good about restricting postseason play."

Even the top programs are not immune and the UConn Huskies men's basketball team had to miss the postseason in 2013. The sanctions even caused several players to transfer to other schools. This year, the mark for APR penalties is rising from 900 to 930, putting several HBCU and low-resource schools on the brink.

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