Essay Why College Athletes Should Be Paid

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In today’s society, one of the biggest controversies is whether or not college student athletes should be paid. Most people agree that college athletes should be compensated for their hard work, but others believe they don’t deserve to be paid. A full athletic scholarship at an NCAA Division 1 school is $65,000. This includes private universities such as Stanford and Duke. This scholarship includes $45,000 for tuition and $20,000 for room and board. College athletes are already getting paid to go to college for free in order to play for their sports team. There is no need to pay them much more.

According to Ed O’Bannon, in 2014, a case led by former UCLA basketball star Ed O'Bannon, “U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken blocks the NCAA from making rules that deny players the right …show more content…

Joe Nocera and Bob Williams state “Athletes attend college as a privilege and are provided the unique opportunity to earn a degree while competing in their athletics. Paying students to play would turn them into employees.” ( Joe Nocera and Bob Williams ). This would shift their focus away from their academics, which is why they’re attending college. Among the athletes, 15% say they wouldn’t even be in college if they didn’t play a sport.

Since players are classified as students rather than athletes, they don’t receive the same legal protection as employees do. In 2014, NCAA proposed to expand permitted compensation to include guaranteed four-year scholarships. Mitchell, Horace, and Marc Edelman state “Instead of attracting athletes with money, schools lure them with big-name coaches and titles, so people believe it’s not exactly worth it. Some schools even might decide to drop football or basketball from their program. More would likely opt for a new level of talent that better fits their budget.” ( Mitchell, Horace, and Marc Edelman