© Matt Cashore/USA Today / USA TODAY NETWORK
Texas state lawmakers quietly introduced bills this week aimed at capping the number of athletic scholarships that public state university can offer to international students. Front Office Sports reports that the bills would limit public colleges in Texas to no more than 25 percent of total “athletic scholarships, grants, or other financial assistance” going to international students.
But the new laws could come at a detriment to the Texas Longhorns as well as Texas A&M, the University of Houston and several others.
First, let’s address the issue at hand. Of the approximately 510,000 current NCAA athletes. Only 25,000 are international students. Simple math shows us that that number works out to just under 5 percent. Now, of course some schools have more than others. But that number is nowhere near the 25 percent threshold.
The number does vary, however, when you start to look at specific sports. In Division I men’s soccer, over 30 percent of players are international students according to recent studies. That number is even high in men’s and women’s tennis, while men’s and women’s golf have anywhere between 20-25 percent of their teams comprised of international athletes.
Sports such as track and field and hockey also see a large influx of international athletes at American college. Those same international athletes are already limited in their ability to pursue NIL compensation.
That’s where things get tricky. Many of program are recruiting outside of the United States in order to pursue the best athlete possible. Should these bills pass, it could put Texas colleges at a significant disadvantage should programs have to start turning away international athletes.
Additionally, immigration attorney Ksenia Maiorova told Front Office Sports that U.S. born athletes who have dual citizenship might also “fall within the scope of this limitation.”
Sure, maybe the rule won’t do much to hurt the Longhorns or Aggies football programs. But it could undeniably hinder just about every other program the universities offer, and we can’t imagine coaches or athletic departments are very happy about that.