Free College is Enough: Why College Athletes Should not Be Paid

A big ongoing dilemma that is being talked about a lot now is whether or not college athletes should be paid. There are pros and cons to both sides of the debate. One of the pros to paying college athletes would be that it would give monetary relief not just for the athlete, but for the athlete’s family as well, since families are usually the ones that have to deal with paying for their child student athlete. The opposition to this would be that the athlete is already receiving monetary relief through scholarships. Due to NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) rules, the student athlete is not even allowed to autograph anything or sell their own memorabilia as a way to get money. Notable former college football stars Johnny Manziel and Todd Gurley were both suspended games in their college days for signing several different items and making money off of it. Manziel was suspended the first half of the season’s first football game, and Gurley was suspended the first four games of the season. This rule was in effect up until October 30 of this year, 2019. On that day, the NCAA decided to allow college athletes to profit off their names, images, and likeness. This is a way that athletes can make some type of money to provide relief for their families and themselves. There are parts to this that most people are not aware of, which may change the opinion of many. My opinion in this case would be that the student athlete should not be paid, mainly for the reason of the scholarships that they are receiving are enough pay to play.

There are four central reasons that I have as to why the student athlete should not be paid. The first and main reason I have which was stated earlier is because since the athlete is so gifted and talented, they have a plethora of colleges asking and begging them to attend their college for very cheap, if not for free. This is unlike the non-student athlete, who is begging and asking to attend the college, for a much higher price. According to the NCAA’s official website, “NCAA Divisions I and II schools provide more than $2.9 billion in athletic scholarships annually to more than 150,000 student-athletes.” The Division III schools are not allowed to provide any scholarships for athletes. The scholarship that the student athlete receives pays for tuition, room and board, meals, fees, and other allowable expenses. To have all these things taken care of is a huge convenience, and also a ginormous benefit within itself. This is, and should be, more than enough for the student athlete. Unlike non-athletes, the student athlete is gaining access to a college education through a participation in sports. For the Division I level, the student athlete only needs to earn a 2.3 GPA or a 900 on their SAT to be admitted into the university. For the Division II level however, the student athlete only needs to earn a 2.2 GPA and or an 840 SAT score to be admitted into the university (NCAA). The university may also pay for athletes to finish their bachelor’s or master’s degrees after they finish playing sports. However, the student athlete may also benefit from academic scholarships along with financial aid programs.

The second reason I have as to why the college athlete should not be paid is because there is not enough money to pay coaches, employees, and the athletes. The argument to this is that there is a lot of money that goes into the athletic program, but what people do not realize is that there is just as money going out from the athletic program. Colleges spend a big amount of money on investments to try to bring in more money for their athletic programs. Sometimes, these investments will pan out for the better. But other times, these investments do not work out. Due to the fact that not every college sport makes money, it would not be fair in any way to just pay the top two sports that bring in money, which in most cases is football and basketball (Grffin). In an article written in 2016, Business Insider ranked the top 25 colleges and or universities that bring in the most money for their school. With the entire math done, the total profit that The University of Louisville brought in was $41,670,685, which was the most in that year by $10,000,000. The Duke University basketball team brought in $31,255,570 that year. For football, the profit gets way bigger. For example the number one school that made the most total profit was The University of Texas A&M football team, whom brought in a total of 107 million dollars last year (Forbes). With this, it would be unfair to the athletes who play the main sports that bring in the most money to pay the athletes whose sport brings in a small amount of money.

Reason number three as to why college athletes should not be paid is because college athletes are not professional athletes. What distinguishes a college athlete from a professional athlete is that professional athletes have excelled at their sport and have worked hard enough to get paid for playing. College athletes go into college play knowing that there is an extremely low chance of becoming a professional athlete, so therefore they should not be treated as one. Fewer than 2 percent of NCAA student athletes go on to become professional athletes after playing in college (Mitchell). To put it into perspective, if you were to get a thousand athletes who play at the Division I level, a little less than only twenty of them will go on to play their sport in the professional level. To participate and take part in a college sports is not a job by any means necessary, as it is a requirement for scholarships. Playing and being part of the college atmosphere is more than enough for the college athlete. The experience alone is well worth all the hard work and dedication that the athlete has put in.

The fourth and final reason that college athletes should not be paid is plainly the reason that college athletes could be very irresponsible with the money that they are given. The athlete may buy many unnecessary things with the extra aid money they are given, which could lead to them being completely out of money which provides many complications not only for the athlete, but with the university itself along with the program’s athletic department. Fox Sports Radio host and journalist Jason Whitlock faced some backlash for what he said about college athletes being irresponsible with their money. He said, ‘I’ve driven athletes to the shopping mall simply to go eat. I watched them buy Air Jordans and some gold chains with their Pell Grant Money.” A Pell Grant is money that the government gives students who need it to pay for college. Unlike loans, these grants do not have to be paid back. Students that are eligible get a specific amount every year under their program (Big Future).

All in all, college athletes are given the opportunity of a lifetime to play a sport in the collegiate level. Some may cherish it, but others may take the opportunity for granted. They do not have to worry about paying for any food or drinks, any textbooks or classes, and any room and board. That is a blessing within itself. To ask and demand to be financially compensated for their “work” is preposterous. They also get to travel the country to different cities and states for workouts, camps, and games. They also earn work opportunities after college because of their experience with being around the collegiate sports level. After graduating college, many former college athletes become successful announcers, broadcasters and journalists. Student athletes are called student athletes because being a student is what comes before being an athlete. College athletes end up coming out of college with almost no debt unlike normal college students that have to deal with paying for all the bills and loans afterwards.

Works Cited

1. “Introduction to Should College Athletes Be Paid?: At Issue.” Should College Athletes Be Paid? Ed. Geoff Griffin. Detroit: Greenhaven Press, 2007. At Issue. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 17 Feb. 2017.
2. Forbes. “Forbes: Texas A&M Most Valuable College Football Team.” Reuters, Thomson Reuters, 12 Sept. 2018, www.reuters.com/article/us-football-ncaa-tam-forbes-finances/forbes-texas-am-most-valuable-college-football-team-iduskcn1ls04k.
3. Future, Big. “Pay for College: What Is a Pell Grant?” Pay for College | What Is a Pell Grant?, bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/grants-and-scholarships/what-is-a-pell-grant.
4. Griffin, Geoff. Introduction to Should College Athletes Be Paid?: At Issue . Greenhaven Press, 2007.
5. Mitchell, Horace. “Students Are Not Professional Athletes.” U.S. News & World Report, U.S. News & World Report, 25 Feb. 2017, www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2014/01/06/ncaa-athletes-should-not-be-paid.
6. National Collegiate Athletic Association. “Scholarships.” NCAA.org - The Official Site of the NCAA, 10 Mar. 2017, www.ncaa.org/student-athletes/future/scholarships.
7. Whitlock, Jason. “College Athletes Already Paid in Full.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 17 Feb. 2017, www.espn.com/page2/s/whitlock/020919.html.