Student Athletes Should Be Paid

Student-Athletes Should be Paid Student-athletes are the main source of income for their respective colleges. They are also instrumental in the recruiting aspect of colleges. In order to maintain their good reputation and keep being attractive to incoming students, colleges depend on their athletes to be the “cream of the crop” at their level of competition. Then why are college students not being paid for the services they provide. Many will say that student-athletes are not to be paid as they are receiving a free education through scholarships. Therefore, they are already getting paid. On the other hand, many believe that colleges make enough money to give the students more than a “free” education. They believe the students should be paid,

Full athletic scholarships cover tuition and fees, room, board and course-related books. Most student-athletes who receive athletics scholarships receive an amount covering a portion of these costs. Many student-athletes also benefit from academic scholarships, NCAA financial aid programs such as the NCAA Division I Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund and need-based aid such as Federal Pell Grants. For many student-athletes this is as much as they can get. Yes, they can go get a job, but the truth is that they spent over 40 hours per week training. Therefore, their job is to train to be the best in their respective sport in order to maintain their “full ride” scholarship. Michigan State QB Kirk Cousins says, "This is where everyone says, 'OK, go get a job, well, I can only really work for the month of July, so that's difficult. What can I do for one month? Plus, I'm quite busy for 11 months and July is the one month where you catch your breath.'' Student-athletes pay for their own gas, cellphone bill, food, car repairs, social outings, etc. If student-athletes cannot work, who pays for this expenses? Family might be able to help, but most of them took the scholarship because their family cannot afford to get them through

“As Michael Lewis argues, “the principle, as stated by the NCAA, is that college sports should never be commercialized.” But it’s too late for that. (Van Rheenen. 552) The college sports have become an entertainment business. An entertainment business where everyone is getting paid, except for the students-athletes. It is bizarre because it is in fact the students who are bringing the money in. For example, “Duke's Mike Krzyzewski earns $9.7 million per year and Kentucky's John Calipari is above $7 million per year” which is more than what some coaches make in professional sports. To be a non-profit organization, it is believed coaches and staff are getting paid too