The life of a college student-athlete has NEVER been easy! With the title “Collegiate Student-Athlete”, there also comes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears.
I’m not too sure “society” as a whole is familiar with the hard work and dedication that is put worth by student-athletes. As a student-athlete, I can personally say that “it is your life”. Everything revolves around school, and the sport that you play for your school; there isn’t much time for anything else.
[pagebreak]
There has been a particular question/debate that has been brought to the attention of the NCAA for many years now, and now that I am in the category of being a college student-athlete, I understand the importance of this issue. Many people have various opinions regarding this topic, and that’s completely fine. However, I will tell you this; there is definitely a GREAT debate behind this question and it should be settled in some kind of way!
Should college athletes be paid to play??? Hmmm… That’s a great question… Many of you probably instantly said “no”, and others may have instantly said “yes”; some of you still might be thinking of an answer. In my opinion, I would answer this question by saying “YES, college athletes should receive some type of funding for performing their sport”.
There are many variables that need to be taken into consideration when it comes to this question; including all the pros as well as cons depending on one’s outlook. Let me briefly outline a few things and tell you why I believe they should be paid…
[pagebreak]
If you really think about it, the NCAA will NEVER bring up the fact of how much money they make off of their student-athletes for their talents, events, games, etc, right? BUT, they will be the FIRST to take away rights/privileges from an athlete in result of the smallest situation that may have occurred. Not saying they don’t have the right to do this; of course they do! Depending on the level of play (Division 1, 2, or 3), the competition is greater which plays a different role for each institution.
Then you have to factor in scholarships depending on the level of play as well. Granite, the “majority” of D1 and D2 athletes more than likely receive free, or close to free education and/or food and room & board, those amounts just don’t even come close to total up to the revenue generated by these colleges and institutions for their athletes and their sports teams.
[pagebreak]
When it comes to an athlete over the period of a year, yes, we can be talking anywhere from $1-$60,000 depending on the school and the amount that is granted to the athlete, but does that compare to millions of dollars that are being made off of games, events, sales, etc????? I don’t think so folks! So my point with that is, these schools are making waaaaay more money off of the athlete’s than their education costs. In the end, if you ask me, thousands just don’t compare to millions.
However, one of the most important factors is the life of the student-athlete. Life revolves around academics, and then the sport which entails various forms of training, games, events, and
