Sixty-eight percent of Central Michigan’s student-athletes earned a 3.0 GPA or higher in the fall semester — the most in Athletics Department history.

The previous highest percent of student-athletes above a 3.0 GPA was 62 percent in spring of 2015.

The 2015 fall semester was the 19th consecutive semester student-athletes carried a cumulative GPA higher than a 3.0.

CMU’s 462 student-athletes combined to average a 3.179 GPA, which is also the highest combined average ever. The lowest combined student-athlete average GPA was a 2.920 in 1997.

Female student-athletes carried a 3.397 GPA, while the men carried a 2.956 — a trend Director of Athletics Dave Heeke said is common nationally for womens’ GPAs to be higher than men's.

“(Men) have one really large-rostered sport in football, which has a varied array of GPAs in that, but it has continued to rise and I think football’s GPA is the closest, if not the highest we’ve had (for football),” Heeke said. “We look at all of those trends. We look at individual trends by program, men versus women, our overall program and how it compares to the overall student body.”

Head Coach Peter McGahey’s 27-member women’s soccer team carried the highest semester GPA, finishing with an average of 3.625.

Head Coach John Bonamego’s 109-member football team finished with the lowest GPA with a 2.823.

Director of Athletic Academic Services Tera Albrecht said four student-athletes were on academic probation at the end of the fall semester.

“Those are typically students who work their way to get back above a 2.0, but it’s common to have anywhere between one and five (students on academic probation),” Albrecht said. “We haven’t had many years where there’s been a significant number.”

Albrecht said student-athletes who fall below the required 2.0 GPA, which is set by the NCAA and the university, will be required to log more study table hours in the Dick Enberg Academic Center within the Indoor Athletic Complex.

“We may require them to meet more one-on-one with a tutor, whether that’s in our area or supplemental instructions across campus or going to office hours with a professor or meeting with us on a weekly basis as a checks and balance to make sure they are getting things done,” Albrecht said.

Albrecht said the Athletics Department has between 40 and 50 tutors available to student-athletes.

“If a student is on a roster, they have access to the Enberg Academic Center and the tutoring services,” Albrecht said.

Albrecht said the number of athletics academic services staff is actually slightly lower than at other Mid-American Conference schools.

“A lot of our schools in the MAC have more (staff), whether its graduate assistants, academic counselors in their departments,” Albrecht said.

Student-athletes usually must record around six hours a week of study table time, Albrecht said, which is set by the coaches in each program.

Women’s Basketball Head Coach Sue Guevara said one of her team’s goals was to have four to five student-athletes at the Athletics Academic Success Banquet in April. Guevara said the team has 12 of its 14 members with a 3.0 and up.

“We have 3.9, 3.9, 3.8, 3.6 and 3.5s (GPAs). Our kids are really taking care of business in the classrooms,” Guevara said. “With the freshmen class, they came in with good study habits. They are utilizing the resources that we have and they’re taking care of their business.”

Guevara said each member of her coaching staff looks after three to four players they meet with weekly for academic purposes.

“I tell our players, if you don’t go to class, if you’re late for class — we get class reports — they know they’re not coming to practice,” Guevara said. “They know taking care of their academics is very very important.”