by Caleb Brush
The main claim for paying college athletes is that, at colleges with high ranking athletic programs, players earn a tremendous amount of money for the schools through their elevated level of play.
According to research from Business Insider, the average college football player at a Division I-A school is worth $149,569 per year, while athletes are worth much more to top athletic programs. The average athlete at the most profitable schools, such as the University of Texas, is worth up to $622,104 per year.
Why doesn’t any of that money go to the athletes themselves? After all, they are the ones generating the income.
Some may argue that the athletes are in fact paid, not with money, but with substantial scholarships to receive a top-notch education. While the majority of athletes do receive scholarships, the majority of them do not gain a top-notch education.
To be an NCAA athlete, it takes hours upon hours of work in the gym and at practice each and every week. On average, a Division I-A NCAA football player practices over six hours per day.
With such hectic schedules, how much studying can they actually fit in? Is it enough to merit the use of degrees as payment?
Spending hours practicing, traveling, and competing severely impedes the ability of collegiate athletes to make it to class and study. In 2010, the average student athlete missed about two classes per week, which is a serious setback for college students.
The lack of focus on education is especially apparent when examining what types of degrees athletes are encouraged to pursue, with many of them being easy to attain, but not sought after by employers.
A prime example of this is the University of North Carolina’s use of “paper classes” to artificially inflate the GPA of athletes to keep them eligible for competition by the NCAA’s set standards. While these “paper classes” were an issue at just one university, the mentality behind instituting them is one that is shared among many others. The universities aren’t aiming to give athletes the quality education that they boast of; they just use education as an excuse to not pay students.
Since the majority of student athletes don’t go into the NFL, NBA, or any other professional sports league, there is no reason a practically useless degree should be considered fair payment.
The debate stretches far beyond just the low quality of education for student athletes. Not only are the college athletes not getting commensurate educations, but they also are risking severe, life-changing injuries, especially for those who wish to pursue professional athletics. Many of these incredibly gifted, athletic young adults have been training their whole lives for careers in athletics, but one injury can end their chances of competing at that next, professional level.
Though payment at the college level would not be high enough to offset the magnitude of the losses caused by possible career-ending injuries, at least the athletes would get something for their hard work and dedication.