Should College Athletes Be Paid?

A recent article I read in Bloomberg Businessweek detailed the academic 'fudging' of college athletes' grades, specifically Division I basketball and football players, at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. Many of these athletes were enrolled in 'paper classes,' where they were not required to physically attend the class throughout the semester, and were only required to write one paper in order to get course credit. It was noted that most of the time these papers were never even read and were automatically given 'A's' or 'B's' by the professors, who were knowledgeable of whose papers they were 'grading.' Grades were also reportedly altered and boosted for those struggling athletes, namely football and basketball players, in order to preserve their athletic standing. These increasingly commonplace developments in university's athletic/academic programs is not exclusive to UNC, but rather a growing trend and issue for traditional scholars across the country. An athletic advisor at UNC named Mary Willingham investigated these issues and challenged the school's academic integrity. Her evidence and research was warranted and eye-opening, but was also met with disdain from university officials and UNC athletic supporters who believed Willingham was just stirring the pot. College athletics has become a $16 billion dollar business, namely from the revenue generated from football and basketball through media contracts, ticket sales, etc. The unfortunate part about this business, which is a word that was not associated with amateur athletics years ago, is that many feel as if these athletes are overworked and underappreciated. With the amount of money the NCAA and big-time schools generate through their athletic programs, these athletes who are essentially worked like professionals should be fairly compensated for their continuing efforts.

College athletes receive financial aid for their athletic skills and talent through grants and scholarships. The amount of the scholarship ranges based on the individual's athletic ability and perceived worth to the team. Revenue sports such as football and basketball oftentimes, especially at big conference programs, have a large amount of scholarship money to allocate to the players on their rosters. They generate a ton of revenue for the school, mostly at the Division I level, and some of that money is put into the betterment of the overall quality of the teams. However, there are plenty of players who are overworked without a moment to spare who do not receive a nice, juicy athletic scholarship in order to help fund their college education. For example, not all 53 players on a football roster can be granted large sums of financial aid, leaving some players with minimal funds to help get them through college. The advantage the revenue sports have is that the athletic department has more money to put into the advancement of the program, whereas non-revenue sports are usually operated on a tight budget. I received an athletic scholarship to play tennis in college, which categorizes as a non-revenue sport. Tennis is an example of a sport that generally does not generate revenue for their schools' athletic program. There is usually little to no television coverage, which means no media revenue for the school, and there are no ticket sales, as most matches have roughly 30 people watching in the surrounding area. These sports are not given the financial support of revenue sports because, guess what?, they don't generate any. I started out playing at the Division III level and was given an 'academic grant' (Division III is not allowed to give athletic scholarships). This scholarship was very valuable in helping my family pay for my education. A couple of years later I transferred to play at the Division I level and was now given an athletic scholarship along with academic financial aid. Again, these scholarships were helpful in lessening my family's financial burden. My point is that while scholarships and grants are great, the athlete is not given the option of being paid directly for their services. Being a college athlete is liking going to college with a full-time job. No matter what sport you play, you have weight-training/running requirements, on-court/field practice, travel (sometimes for a full week) and your actual games/matches. And you have to balance all of this with a rigorous academic schedule and coursework, and are expected to maintain good academic standing. I would like college athletes to at least have the option to directly accept payments or choose to accept aid in the form of scholarships to reduce their annual tuition. Generally, college students are not swimming in the dough, and every bit of money could help pay for meals, nights out, groceries, gas and other basic needs. There should also be an option of the athlete being permitted to take a cut of their scholarship in the form of a direct payment and allocating the rest to reduce their tuition bills. Employees are paid to perform a job or do a service to their company, so why should college athletes (basically employees of the university) be restricted in their financial options in terms of how to receive their aid? This ongoing debate is a significant one, as individuals who make a big commitment and sacrifice over the course of four years, should have the right to choose how they receive their money.