Why Do College Athletes Get Paid

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“Seventeen college football coaches and seven college basketball coaches make more than $3 million a year.” (Fred Bowen) College athletes don’t get paid any real physical money for all of the difficult and exhausting work that they do. If coaches are getting paid by the millions, then how come college athletes aren’t receiving a dime of their hard earned money? With all of the work that college athletes put into these sports, they should not be subjected to not receiving any actual cash income. It isn’t fair to take the majority of a kid’s time away with games and practicing, leaving them no time to even get a part time job because along with that they also have to maintain their GPA by studying, taking classes, and doing homework and not give …show more content…

However, with all of the work that college athletes put into these sports, they should not be subjected to not receiving any actual cash income. College athletes are students whom need to maintain a required GPA which often requires long hours of studying, extensive homework, and classes throughout the week. Additionally, the young adults are also required to be incredibly into their sports lives by going to long practices, playing in games and training at a gym. The school and sports pieces in their lives leave them no time to even get a part time job usually. Rick Burton lengthily expresses all the benefits that college athletes receive in his article College Athletes Are Already Paid With Their Education, “…athletes still receive expert coaching (that could lead to a professional career as an athlete or as a coach), on-campus housing…” etc., etc., etc., we get it. On the other hand that doesn’t answer how they will pay for Christmas presents for their family and friends? How they will buy a ticket for a planned trip during spring break? How they will make payments on their vehicles? Although they are paid in tuition, expert coaching, and uniforms, they aren’t paid (or left time to make any money to pay) for things they are going to need to either relax or get around town in this instance. Scoop Jackson (The Myth of Parity) says, “No one is making kids go to school to make money for the colleges and universities.” While this is technically true, these kids have dreams since they were little children of being a professional athlete and this is their only shot of fulfilling that dream so they do it and work as hard as their bodies will allow them no matter what, even if they have to sacrifice their college years of having fun and enjoying life. Nonetheless, people argue that it will be too difficult to decide how much to pay a college athlete,