College Athletes Should Be Openly Paid

According to the Forbes.com, college athletes from around the country are already paid up to 125,000 dollars from tuition to meal plans to skill training. To an economist, this is “pay” (Dorfman). College athletes should not receive pay because they already are given free tuition and more, it would result in controversial amounts of pay including bargaining, and it would not benefit the athletic program.

Some college or its boosters are caught giving "extra benefits" to college football players. In some case the allegations range into the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars. The NCAA long ago allowed student-athletes to turn professional in one sport while retaining their eligibility in another. In recent years, the NCAA has established funds to provide basic necessities for student-athletes in need. So what if the NCAA controls the money? The NCAA still hands it out. The point is that rules evolve. One era's professional is today's Wisconsin quarterback Russell Wilson, a minor leaguer in the Colorado Rockies' farm system. So allow your mind to drift. Let the rules continue to evolve. Think what might happen if the NCAA allowed its member institutions to pay its student-athletes. They already pay them as much as $250,000 in tuition, room, board, books, fees, medical care, physical training, tutoring and trinkets that can be traded for tattoos. But move beyond that. Pay the players who fill those six-figure stadiums. Pay the athletes who promote the brand of the alma mater. Economically, these scandals are clear evidence that the NCAA's level of compensation for athletes is so far below the market rate that cheating is irresistible. Despite this, it seems inevitable that well-intentioned columnists, coaches and sports legends ...

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...uld receive pay after completing college from what they accomplished in college. They should be able to make a profit, just not while they're in college. They should have some account where the money goes and they can't touch it until they graduate or officially un-enroll. Once they start using the money from that account they can't profit from their status again if they choose to re-enroll at any college. This would be going against Title IX which outlaws paying athletes for college work.

The bottom line is that athlete's should not be paid a salary. They should get something more than what they are currently getting for making their school loads of money. College athletes should not receive pay because they already are given free tuition and more, it would result in controversial amounts of pay including bargaining, and it would not benefit the athletic program.