Should College Athletes Get Paid? Many collegiate athletes put as much if not more time into their sport as they do in their school work. There is has been an ongoing argument about this for a while and there are many for and against it. The People that are for paying the athletes say that the athletes create millions of dollars for the school and should see some sort of compensation for the time and effort that they put into the sport that drives that money. The people that are against paying the athletes say that the scholarships that the athletes receive are payback enough.
In the past college athletes were not allowed to have a job outside of college. Only now has the NCAA allowed athletes to have part-time jobs during the school year. The problem with this is that the college athlete is in a way punished for being an athlete because he or she will not be able to generate any money for themselves during their college career. Recently the NCAA has made many propositions which would solve this problem. Proposition 62 just recently gave the opportunity for athletes to hold part-time jobs. Still this limits the person to only be able to make $1500 a year. The plan was supposed to go into effect many years ago but it was delayed due to many evaluations and reviews. The reality to this problem of a college athlete having a job is that even though they might be able to have a job many athletes would not be able to have one with the practice schedule and classes. The NCAA has regulations in the classroom as well.
To be able to play a sport in college an athlete has to have at least 12 credit hours a quarter on their schedule. That means they will be taking at least two classes a day for 48 min each. You also have to factor in study time on each subject and time to eat and sleep so you can see how there is very little room for anything. Also restrictions set by the NCAA will not allow any athlete to receive money for the athletic abilities, for example a person could not go play baseball in the majors and not succeed and then try to come back to college and play. NCAA rulings say that once you receive money for playing a sport you are considered a professional and give up your amateur status.
Big name colleges make millions off of the ticket sales, food and drink, and merchandise. Some people feel that the athletes that create the want for the people come and watch them play the sport should be compensated for their hard work. All of the money that is made from athletics is broken down and dispersed through the university. None of which is given back to the athlete other than maybe having better facilities, which they will probably not see until they are already graduated. The amount of service that is given to athlete from the school is considerably less than the athlete generates for the school. But to some people this may be equal.
Many people think that if colleges start to pay athletes there will be a lot of corruption in college sports. They think that if an athlete is able to receive money there will be some athletes that will earn ridiculous amounts of money and only go to the college that pays the most. Another complaint that athletes should not be paid is that while they bring a lot of revenue into the school they also count for a lot of expenses. These expenses include equipment, travel, housing, and healthcare. When people look at it that way they seem to think that it all balances out and the costs are equal to the amount generated to for the school. Also critics believe that the money generated by the athletes should be shared by the whole school. They say that because if it was not the school then the athletes would not have the chance to play on these teams and in these stadiums that attract all of the fans that pay the money to see the sport.
Critics also believe that since college athletes are not ?professionals? that they should not be paid for their efforts on the field. The amount of practice time that is spent by the athletes is not comparable to that of a professional athlete. These people say that student athletes spend more time in the class room and on studies than they do at practice. If they do spend more time at practice then in the class then something more should be done to restrict the hours or practice times. Another argument is that an athlete can work during the summer and make up for the time that they can not work during the year. There are also other activities such as school drama and the band that require skill to do so some people say that if you are going to pay athletes you must pay the others as well. The problem with this argument is that the band and drama and other extra curricular activities do not have a limit to the amount the person can work and earn in a given year.
There are still many debates and proposals being held about this subject in sports. The NCAA is considering paying athletes because of the high amount of students that are leaving school to go play professionally. Some of the reasons that they have to leave are because of the financial problem that they encounter during their college years and the high number of sports agencies that athletes can get a hold of. What the NCAA wants college athletes to realize is that they are not just a part of an athletic team but a part of a university where everyone is trying to achieve a professional career whether you play a sport or read a book.
The NCAA establishes rules and they think that the most important rule that they have made is that student athletes shall not receive any money with the exception of scholarships towards their tuition and housing. However, if the athlete is on a full ride and receives money then how can he use that towards is tuition or housing? They might use it to start a life after college just like any student does when they work during college to save up money so when they get out of college they have some money to start a life with. We have already seen what happens when you don?t give athletes compensation for their effort now people are saying why not see what happens when we do.