The Debate Over The Issue of Paying College Athletes

Student athletes are some of the most influential athletes in the world. On college campuses kids are in class with these athletes then get to see them on a national stage on the weekends. These athletes are looked up to. Imagine spending hours and hours working, but not getting paid, it doesn’t seem realistic. People work their whole lives to be compensated for what they accomplish during the hours that they spend working. From the time you turn 16, to the day you retire, you work in some form or another. Possibly it’s doing chores around the house for a little pocket change when your young, or possibly it’s working a minimum wage job at a shop down the road from your childhood home or spending what feels like a lifetime at college to get a good job, it feels like it doesn't end. People say that, “Money is the root of all evil,” and act like it’s not a necessity to live. What it should say it that greed is the root of all evil. Life is expensive. College is even more expensive. Student debt is crushingly common in today's world and easy to underestimate. How would I know what a challenge this is? I was a student athlete with no compensation. I saw first hand what student athletes with scholarships and many without, have to go through everyday. Today’s student athletes travel multiple weekends a month, often times during the week as well which caused kids to miss class. Having thousands of dollars of debt. I was able to experience this everyday first hand.

While growing up, everyone says that college is the best time of your life, but the years can also be the hardest, busiest, and the most confusing too. A lot of people find struggle in their everyday life with various things, and money is probably one of the most common, doesn’t matter the age. Student athletes are no exception. They not only have their coursework to worry about, but their team and the team’s track record with previous and future events. This is no easy feat when missing multiple classes every week during season, and practicing for hours a day. Just looking on the surface, it’s easy to point out from the beginning that these same students athletes are making the university plenty of money so why wouldn’t they be compensated? It’s not a surprise that there is big money in college sports, especially popular ones. Well where would the money come from to pay them with? Taxpayers? Other students tuition? Make it easy and only pay the college athletes whose sport is profitable, it wouldn’t be that complicated to figure out. The coaches are usually being paid a comfortable salary so it would only make sense that the people who make this job possible, are reimbursed for their hard work. These kids produce and generate so much revenue that they should see even a tiny bit of it. College sports are a huge deal and people love to stay up to date and cheer on the teams. Saying that they wouldn’t know how much to pay these student athletes is a lazy excuse. Colleges have monetary equations for every book, professor, class credit in the book. Beyond this, there’s much more to it and how paying these student athletes would not only benefit them, but people they interact with on a regular basis. “Michigan, Alabama and Ohio State round out the top five most valuable college football programs. The Buckeyes and the Wolverines are first and second in average annual football ticket revenue ($54 million and $44 million), and each ranks among the top five in sponsorship income,”.

Furthermore, paying these athletes encourages them to pay more attention and focus on their schoolwork, additionally, it would take relief off of them and their parents. Making ends meet is tough on its own for some, but trying to make ends meet without a job? Impossible. Getting a job while being a student athlete? Not happening. Parents of these students are placed with more responsibility financially than any of the students attending the university, at least right away. In some cases, maybe this isn’t what they had wanted. Federal student aid is based on the parents’ income, although often times the kids don’t have the luxury of their parents writing a check for half a hundred thousand dollars right on a whim, maybe even if it’s available. Some call it tough love. This is a frustrating and controversial topic. Fine, say they will help with tuition, what about spending money, grocery money, transportation means... It is more often than not a thought that can stress people out to the gills. Compensating these students athletes, even a minimal amount, would help out not only the students, but the parents who are supposedly in charge of paying for the tuition.

“According to a 2011 NCAA Survey, many students average 30 hours of practice a week, while some spend over 40”. This is more time spent practicing than some people work for their part-time job. Spending over 40 hours a week would qualify for a full-time job. Uncompensated. Then on top of that, they most likely are taking around 15 college credits with classes around 15 hours a week, and then they are expected to work on schoolwork and study. Some people argue that these same athletes are already getting scholarships for playing at a university, so rewarding them beyond scholarships isn’t necessary. The university gets to decide who gets these scholarships, and for how much. $60,000 isn’t really pocket change so it takes some planning to figure out where the tuition money is coming from. Say they do get a scholarship, more often than not it doesn’t even come close to covering the full cost of tuition. I’m not arguing that student athletes should be paid $60,000 a year, as that is more than the national average for a household income, but anything would help.

What about selling the jerseys that these players wear, or the autographs that they would hand out after the game? Not allowed, but why? If a fan wants to pay a couple hundred dollars for their worn jersey? Why not. These athletes don’t see a dollar of the money that people pay for their jerseys/etc. from sport shops. Not only jerseys that could be sold but gear as well. Even clothing. Once it becomes the athletes property they should be able to do with it what they please. If I were to be a football player I should be able to sell my football cleats, or if I’m a hockey player I should be able to sell old hockey sticks. Although this wouldn't be a huge money maker, anything can help. Many of us are forced to stay on campus over the summer to continue to train for our sports as well as take classes and work on schoolwork. When are we expected to work? We need money.

In a recent talk I gave a couple of months I go I talked with highschool and college coaches. During my talk I touched on how influential we as athletes are and how we should be treated and compensated for our work. Some didn’t agree with me and said that we weren’t influential but that the school was, I then told this story.. During my sophomore season before our first game, all the guys were putting eyeblack on and writing on them, some saying the area code where they were from others doing crazy designs. I wanted to do something different, I decided to do a bible verse, Philipians 4:13. I didn’t think much of this and wore it the rest of the season. We went on to go 13-1 and found ourselves in the National championship game, before the game as I was putting my eye black on I decided that I should change it. I picked John 3:16. We went on to win the game and partied the next couple of days. It was a week later when I was at breakfast with my parents that I got a call from our team social media guy. He told me that 93 million people had googled what John 3:16 meant during the national championship game. If that isn't being influential then I don't know what is. Athletes who are still in college today are this influential and are not being compensated at all for the revenue that they are generating.

The debate today is that if this is such a big deal and needs to change why is it just being brought up now? In the past student athletes have been able to handle the course load as well as keeping up with their schoolwork and many having time to work part time jobs. With new studies coming out saying athletes need to be doing more than ever before (insert study). Student athletes are having to spend their entire summers on campus, while also taking a heavy course load. When are they expected to make money? The couple two week vacations they get during the summer? There is no possible way for a student athlete to pay for school without going heavily into debt. Yes these athletes are getting to play on a national stage but at what cost? This is a problem that needs to change and the NCAA needs to change with the times.