Under NCAA rules, student-athletes aren't allowed to be paid - but there's an exception for foreign athletes, and swimmer Joseph Schooling is about to take advantage of it.

For winning the gold medal in Friday night's 100m 100m fly - and beating out his once-idol Michael Phelps in the process - Schooling, who is an athlete at the University of Texas, will receive about $750,000 from the Singapore National Olympic Council's Multi-Million Dollar Award Programme.

Joseph Schooling beat Michael Phelps for Singapore's first medal in swimming USATSI

So how exactly does it work that Schooling can keep the money?

Steve Berkowitz of USA Todayexplained:

The exception allows athletes to keep money from their country's national Olympic governing body based on their finish in one event per year that is designated as the highest level of international competition for the year by the governing body. For American athletes, this works under the U.S. Olympic Committee's Operation Gold program.

As it stands now, student-athletes aren't able to be paid as though they're employees. Some opponents of the current model have suggested that major college athletics should adopt an Olympic-type model, but no progress had been made on that front.