\u201cTCU is number three in the country for short-changing women in athletic scholarship dollars,\u201d Champion Women wrote in a statement. \u201cIt\u2019s a shame that the adults in charge aren\u2019t fixing these violations of federal law, leaving it to 18-22 year old students. Sad.\u201d<\/p>\n
Title IX is a federal law that prohibits gender-based discrimination in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. It protects students, staff and faculty from sexual harassment, gender-based discrimination and also requires schools to provide equal opportunity for participation for both sexes.<\/p>\n
In Champion Women\u2019s complaint to the Education Department, the organization points out that TCU\u2019s student body is predominantly women. Roughly 61% of undergraduate students at TCU are women, according to university data. But Champion Women claims that ratio is not fairly represented in student athlete participation. There are 302 female student athletes at the university compared to 365 male athletes. Champion Women claims there needs to be at least 600 female student athletes to be representative of fair athletic opportunities for women.<\/p>\n
TCU provided female athletes with $11.2 million in athletic student aid in the 2023-24 school year, compared to $14.3 million in men\u2019s scholarships, according to the Department of Education<\/a>. Champion Women projects the university needs to spend at least $23 million in athletic student aid for women to meet equality. The organization also says that discrepancy is the third worst in the United States among all colleges.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for TCU told the Star-Telegram the school is aware of the complaint.<\/p>\n \u201cSimilar complaints were filed against approximately 100 schools three years ago. We are aware of their social media post claiming they updated data,\u201d the spokesperson wrote.<\/p>\n TCU offers 13 women\u2019s sports compared to nine men\u2019s sports teams. Those women\u2019s sports include<\/a> basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, golf, indoor track and field, outdoor track and field, equestrian, soccer, swimming and driving, rifle, volleyball, and triathlon. The only major sport not offered by the university is softball.<\/p>\n One of the main reasons for the discrepancy is football. TCU does not offer a women\u2019s sport with a roster the size of an average NCAA football team. TCU had 116 players on its 2025 football roster, with most of those players on athletic scholarship. Even with four more women\u2019s sports than men\u2019s sports, the number of scholarship dollars do not match the male athletes due to smaller women\u2019s sports roster sizes. Soccer, volleyball, basketball and golf, the most prominent women\u2019s sports at TCU, are significantly smaller in team size than an NCAA football team.<\/p>\n Champion Women also cites inequalities in recruiting expenses for women\u2019s sports compared to males. TCU spent $1.8 million to recruit male athletes in 2023-24, compared to around just $571,000 for women. The organization projects at least $2.9 million would need to be spent for equality.<\/p>\n TCU\u2019s discrepancies in recruiting expenses, number of athletes and scholarship aid between men and women is not much off national average across the NCAA. Men comprise roughly 57% of NCAA student-athletes compared to 43% women, according to statistics from the NCAA. Across NCAA Divisions I and II, male athletes also receive more total athletic scholarship money than women.<\/p>\n NCAA Division I FBS football teams can have up to 105 scholarship players, which is often the main reason for disparity in funding, even if a school has more overall women\u2019s sports offerings. Title IX compliance does not require schools to match football spending on women\u2019s sports since no current NCAA women\u2019s sports have rosters of similar size.<\/p>\n This story was originally published March 24, 2026 at 3:49 PM.<\/p>\n