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Texas Lawmakers Introduce Bill To Limit Athletic Scholarship Funds For International Students

Two recently introduced bills by Texas lawmakers are taking aim at the amount of college athletic scholarship funding that international students can receive.

Texas Sen. Brandon Creighton and Rep. Drew Darby have introduced companion legislation that would mandate that public colleges in Texas only offer 25% of “athletic scholarships, grants, or other financial assistance” to athletes who aren’t U.S. citizens each year.

The bill from Creighton can be viewed here, while the bill from Darby can be seen here.

The news was first reported by Front Office Sports.

Thousands of athletes from outside the U.S. come not only to gain an education, but also use the NCAA system to further develop in their sports in hopes of representing their home country at international competitions, most notably the Olympics.

Here is a breakdown of which countries international swimmers competing collegiately in the U.S. are coming from and how many international swimmers are in the U.S. in each gender and division.

International athletes often receive compensation from the governing bodies of their home countries, even when playing collegiately in the U.S.

Darby explained his rationale for introducing the bill in an email to Front Office Sports.

“Despite what you may be led to believe, college sports are not a business, and our universities will not be in the business of maximizing profit for shareholders, but providing educational and athletic opportunities for the American citizens whose tax dollars fund their operations,” Darby said in the email. “The legislation still allows for foreign recruits to play on scholarship, but ensures that the system is not being abused to recruit talent for the sole purpose of winning and deviating from the sacred mission of post-secondary education.”

Darby’s comments do seem contradictory to the concept that collegiate athletics is a business, especially with the University of Texas athletics department announcing it surpassed $1 billion in fundraising and some schools considering private equity investment in college athletics.

The bills are still in committee and won’t have a vote on them for passage in the foreseeable future. Once bills are introduced in Texas legislature, it starts a process where they are referred to a committee, debated and voted on in one chamber, sent to the other chamber where the process is repeated, sent to conference where the two chambers agree on changes before sending to the Governor, and then finally signed or vetoed by the Governor.

Ksenia Maiorova, an immigration attorney, told Front Office Sports that U.S. born athletes who have dual citizenship might “fall within the scope of this limitation,” with how the bill is written.

According to the NCAA, roughly 25,000 out of the current 510.000 scholarship athletes are from outside the U.S.

Immigration attorneys also told Front Office Sports that the visa application process for college athletes has slowed in the first weeks of President Donald Trump’s second administration.

U.S. universities advised international students to return early from winter break before President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 to avoid travel bans, according to CNN.

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Skdi
1 month ago

Don’t be upset about losing your spot.You weren’t going to get it anyway.

CDs goal time was 17.76
1 month ago

I would fix this on day one by instituting a 25% tarrif on all international swimmers.

:40. International Studs will convert to :50. and be swimming 3rd leg on e relays with the pure breaststrokers.

Leon goes 1:36? Tarrifed to 2:00. It’s perfect because there are actually a lot of kids who can go 1:59 in 2im and who don’t have an accent

There are only so many trophies to go around and until Europe starts paying its fair share we need to save our trophies for real patriots who can take up the national anthem when the chlorine drenched sound system shits out after dawns early light.

Please mash that like button and subscribe

kazoo
1 month ago

texas being texas–and i don’t mean that as a compliment.

Diplo
1 month ago

So much for being a “shining city on a hill” that attracts the best and brightest. Isolationism never made a country great.

MIKE IN DALLAS
Reply to  Diplo
1 month ago

Au contraire! It’s not isolationism – rather, it’s providing for one’s own (athletes) first — and then, looking after others.

MigBike
Reply to  MIKE IN DALLAS
1 month ago

Mike you are thinking and typing much too logically for many people! Keep it up!!!

Kathleen Kinsey
1 month ago

Hey that’s my photo! The Folsom Wahoos Swim Team developed a sure fire way to ensure that beginning backstrokers did not crash into each other. Folsom Wahoos is now https://www.kingswimming.net/

Now in the stands
1 month ago

I think our schools should not give a penny in scholarships to foreigners. In fact, their countries should pay more for them to train in the USA under the likes of Bowman.

Scott Talbot
1 month ago

Laon Kim gonna be on his way to UBC if this happens

EASTCOASTSWIM
Reply to  Scott Talbot
1 month ago

UBC would be a great choice for many! A university proving to be produce excellent results. If this trends continues more should look; specially Canadian’s!

Last edited 1 month ago by EASTCOASTSWIM
Insanity
1 month ago

Cancel all sports at universities. The logic holds for any athlete wasting tax payer resources.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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