Trinity to cover the bill for soccer players, this year

Officials at Trinity International University say the Bannockburn school has partially resolved a dispute involving the recruitment of two foreign soccer players.

Monday, school spokesman Gary Cantwell acknowledged a difference of opinion surfaced on whether the players were told they would receive a full scholarship covering tuition, room and board for four years.

Trinity athletic and academic scholarships cover only tuition. That means the foreign players were to pay more than $7,000 each for housing at the private liberal arts Christian college, just east of Route 22 and the Tri-State Tollway.

However, Cantwell said, the students from Africa and Brazil no longer are on the financial hook for this year. Without providing details, he said Trinity President Jeanette Hsieh and other administrators met last week and found a way to have the students' room and board covered.

Trinity still is examining soccer coach Chris Bergmann's recruitment of the two foreign players and what they were told during the process last year, Cantwell said. Trinity wants to determine if a misunderstanding occurred or whether the players were led to believe housing and tuition would be part of the athletic scholarship.

"We want to make sure we're totally up front and honest and tell the whole story to students we're recruiting," Cantwell said.

Bergmann could not be reached for comment.

Freshman midfielder/forward Kennedy Chongo of Lusaka, Zambia, was one of the Trojans soccer players who had faced the steep bill. Chongo said Monday he's relieved he won't have to find money for his room and board this year.

Trinity's tuition is set at $21,600 for the 2008-09 academic season. Room and board will be $7,270.

Cantwell said Trinity must adhere to federal government regulations for international students. Such students are limited in where they can work and must show financial means exist to pay living expenses before gaining permission to attend school in the United States, he said.

Financial aid or assistance from family or others are typical money sources for foreign students who attend Trinity on a tuition scholarship, Cantwell said. In the case of the two soccer players, he said, it appears their planned financial support -- that will be necessary for the future -- fell through this year.

"From the school's point of view, we find it hard to see we did anything improper here," he said.

Trinity's campus had about 2,400 undergraduate and graduate students in the 2007-08 academic year. Cantwell said there were 146 international pupils.