NCAA aAhletes and Pay

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Should college student-athletes be paid has become a much debated topic. The incentive for a student-athlete to play a college sport should not be for money, but for the love of the game. It has been argued that colleges are making money and therefore the student-athlete should be compensated. When contemplating college income from sporting events and memorabilia from popular sports, such as football and basketball, it must not be forgotten that colleges do incur tremendous expense for all their sports programs. If income from sports is the driving factor to pay student-athletes, several major problems arise from such a decision. One problem is who gets a salary and the second problem is how much should they be paid. Also, if the income from the sports do not cover the cost of the student-athlete salaries, tuition cost will most definitely rise. The flip side is that the student-athlete entered college, in many instances with a scholarship, chose to play a particular sport because they like to play the game and have therefore decided to participate and should not expect to be paid as a professional athlete. By paying student-athletes a salary would dramatically alter college life for student-athletes as well as non-student-athletes. With a possible scholarship amounting to $200,000, it can be considered a fair exchange because while they are getting a free college education, they also have the opportunity to showcase their abilities to the professional sports world. Not only is tuition paid for, but the student-athletes also receive books, meals, and housing all under the scholarship. These student-athletes put a tremendous amount of time practicing and playing. This can possibly cause the student-athlete to fall behind in t... ... middle of paper ... ...stitution they attend. Paying student-athletes to participate in any sports program would dilute the reason students attend college in the first place, which is to receive an education. By offering a salary to student-athletes, it would change the reason why students apply to college and universities. Instead of wanting to attend to receive an education, students would rather attend under the sports umbrella in the hopes of attaining an income. Student-athletes should be given an opportunity to participate in a sports program because of their ability and love of the game. Also, colleges and universities would be adversely affected because the entire income and disbursements would change. The standards currently in place to meet the needs of all, student-athletes as well as non-student-athletes will be dramatically altered and therefore, can not be guaranteed.

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