NEWARK, N.J. -- The NCAA accepted Rutgers' self-imposed penalties of two years' probation and the loss of 20 total scholarships in 10 sports for violating eligibility and financial aid rules.

The school was publicly reprimanded by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions, in a ruling announced Tuesday. The committee also commended the university for "detecting and vigorously pursuing the violations."

It is the first time that Rutgers, a member of the Big East, has been on probation.

The university must provide annual reports to the NCAA on compliance with academic requirements for athletic eligibility and details of its audits of student-athlete records.

Many of the violations involved tardy paperwork, as opposed to students who were ineligible, and no coaches were involved, said Thomas Yeager, chair of the committee and commissioner of the Colonial Athletic Conference.

"It was a flawed process that had people involved who were not fully up to speed when it came to administering the complexities," Yeager said in a teleconference. "There really was a systematic breakdown that really ran to competence, rather than maliciousness."

The probation period began April 1, 2002, the date Rutgers reported the results of its investigation to the NCAA.

Rutgers president Richard L. McCormick and athletic director Robert E. Mulcahy III scheduled news conference for later Tuesday.

The violations involved at least 40 athletes in 15 sports starting in the 1997-98 school year and continuing through 2000-01, the NCAA said.

The origin, however, dated back 20 years, when Rutgers "implemented a plan for certification that failed in theory and practice to create adequate procedural guidelines for the individuals charged with certifying student-athlete eligibility," the NCAA said.

Under NCAA rules, every member school must certify that its student-athletes meet academic requirements upon admission and throughout their athletic career to remain eligible to compete.

Under the sanctions imposed by Rutgers and accepted by the NCAA, football, men's lacrosse and men's soccer will each lose four scholarships over the next two school years.

Men's golf will lose two scholarships, while men's basketball, baseball, field hockey, men's track, softball and women's tennis will lose one over that period.

Rutgers has made scholarship reductions in compliance with its penalty, beginning with one in men's soccer in the 2001-02 school year, Rutgers sports spokesman John Wooding said. That was followed by two in football, two in men's lacrosse and another in men's soccer in 2002-03.

Most of the 14 remaining reductions are to occur in the 2003-04 season, with some in the next year, Wooding said.