Higher Compensation for Higher Education: Paying College Athletes

Recruitment is a process in which colleges find high-level prospects from around the country to come play for them, and from there it is the athlete’s choice to where he will be excelling his athletic career. In an article written on recruiting 101, it states some of the top reasons a recruit will choose the college they want to go to. Some that they introduce are “Location, Success of Program, Coaches, and Incentives,” ( There are many decisions that the athlete has to go through when it comes to selecting the right college consisting of, location of school, the environment of the college and the team staff, and incentives that were given to them from the colleges’ booster club members. Though it is against the rules for the colleges to give incentives to persuade a recruit to come there, it isn’t for a booster club member to present the athlete with a gift. This happens to many college athletes, even though it is still against the rules, an example of this happening was brought up in Walter Byers book Unsportsmanlike Conduct:Exploiting College Athletes which included hall of famer Eric Dickerson. “After Dickerson finished college ball, he disclosed that the $15,000 Trans Am was purchased by Texas A&M boosters who tried to recruit him but failed” (Byers 20). Though in this situation it didn’t work, in many other instances this approach is successful. By paying college

College athletics are becoming more like the professional leagues except for one big issue, money. Student athletes bring in a vast amount of revenue for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) not to mention recognition and notoriety regarding the athlete’s university. However, the debate continues as to whether student athletes should or should not receive payment for playing college sports.

It is the NCAA’s policy that no student athlete shall receive any special benefits or compensation in regard to their status as an athlete of a university. This basically means that no player can accept gifts or services with any special benefits from school or athletic personnel, or receive any benefits for outside entrepreneurship for reasons regarding their play. For example, a student athlete cannot sign a jersey with their number on it and exchange it for any type of compensation. However, over the past few years, many scandalous conspiracies of soliciting services to athletes for their commitment and play have surfaced. Due to the NCAA’s stance on this issue many of these violations have left athletics programs with sanctions that in reality are very unnecessary and hardly ever punish those who initially violated the rules. The fact is that the college athletics generates on average 10.5 billion dollars of revenue annually, and the NCAA organization alone, about 720 million annually. Of that 720 million that the NCAA accounts for, only 60 percent of that is returned to the Division I universities whose athletics accounted for almost all of it. The rest is dispersed into other funds such as championship games and the national office services, with a small amount being paid to division II and III schools. However, of that 60 percent paid back to the Division I schools, which amounts to approximately 430 million dollars, the majority is spent by the University on

Many student-athletes can have their whole career, their passion, and love of their respected sport taken away from them with just 1 play. The student-athletes are representing their respective school and making the school more popular and more students will want to enroll there and the student-athletes are making the NCAA millions of dollars, but the NCAA will not give the student-athletes just a little allowance because it will “ruin the integrity of college sports”. Student athletes-athletes should get paid because students could get hurt in one play, the NCAA makes millions of dollars on the the players, and it will make the players do smarter things with their money.

Now, paying these athletes doesn’t have to be for everyone. Only the high caliber, D1 athletes. The D1 athletes put in all this time and effort to get a scholarship, but don’t see any money. Now that’s not right. These D1 caliber players don’t come around all the time. There are not many of them. Plus the schools that do have these players are super rich. “These teams not only provide their supporters with a steady source of entertainment, but their performance also helps bring notoriety and pride to the universities they represent. College athletics, especially the so-called "revenue sports" of men 's basketball and football, is now a multi-million dollar business that is marketed, packaged, and sold in the same manner as other commercial products” (Acain).

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

With the universities pulling in more than twelve billion dollars, the rate of growth for college athletics surpasses companies like McDonalds and Chevron (Finkel, 2013). The athletes claim they are making all the money, but do not see a dime of this revenue. The age-old notion that the collegiate athletes are amateurs and students, binds them into not being paid by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This pay for play discussion has been talked about since the early 1900s but recently large steps are being made to actually make a change. There are many perspectives on the payment of collegiate student athletes coming from the NCAA, the athletes themselves, and the university officials.

College athletes have much more responsibilities to worry about than pros, and scholarships don 't help athletes that much and they often don’t even finish college. The problem is college athletes don 't get paid when they have twice the responsibilities of pro athletes. college athletes have to juggle their sport practices and games, being on the road a lot of the time, going to classes everyday, and going to work so they can have money to eat. The solution would be to take out of all the money college athletes make from games, and memorabilia. NCAA is a billion dollar organization and they don 't pay the very people who make them the

During the early and mid-1900s student, athletes were routinely recruited and compensated through a pay-to-play effort. History shows that in some instances individuals representing the not necessarily enrolled as students at the colleges they were representing, according to (Johnson & Acquaviva, 2012). In an effort to win the game, colleges and universities were focused on the human muscle factor versus the mental factor. It was during this era, the marriage of collegiate sports and academia was created. Realizing that not all schools were fiscally postured to entice athletically inclined students, policies and governance was introduced. In an effort to ensure the integrity of college sports programs and to protect student athletes, the National Collegiate Athletic Associated has established strict guidelines, particularly when it comes to student athletes receiving compensation (Johnson and Acquavia,

One of the most controversial subjects we as individuals hear about this day in age is whether or not college athletes deserve to be paid. Many people argue that these athletes do intact, deserve to be paid for their time and hard work. NCAA athletes create a name for themselves by playing and performing well on their college teams. The better these athletes perform, the more publicity the school revives. This then leads to higher ticket sales and stores around campus selling jerseys and other clothing items with athletes names and numbers on the back. NCAA schools have become comfortable with using athletes’ names to bring in a revenue for the school, and yet the athletes never see any of that money. On the other hand, many people believe that these athletes do not deserve, nor should they expect to receive payment in return. They believe that these scholarships and the education are payment in itself. Some even bring up the question on if it is affordable or even realistic to pay college athletes.

This paper debates whether Division 1 athletes should be paid or not. I explain the situation to the readers that do not have much background knowledge of the topic. I go on to say that Division 1 players should be paid because they do not have much money to buy necessities. The NCAA does not allow players to get jobs due to the workload required for their particular sport. The athletes also cannot sell their items or autographed items for revenue. My next reason athletes should be paid is because they are the core of the collegiate sports. Without the players, there would be no revenue period. My next point is that the scholarships are not enough to compensate or the time the athletes put into their sport. Although the

The F.B.I found the same problem happening in many of the nation’s high-ranked teams (Swanson 1). After this incident, many went to the internet and argued that the only solution to this is college athletes getting paid, but this is not a smart solution. Although paying college athletes may help reduce corruption along the lines of recruitment, there are

In my past two years at CSU, I have heard student athletes argue both for and against receiving special treatment. As Lombardi et al. mentions, the NCAA places academic criteria that student athletes must meet in order to stay on their team, play games, and receive scholarships. Rules from the NCAA and CSU are in place to keep athletes held accountable to academic standards in order to play. According to the Charleston Southern University Student Handbook, if an athlete is found to have participated in academic dishonesty, on the first offence he or she must sit out of 20% of games played (10). The problem arises when alleged stories are spread around campus that athletes are handed good grades by teachers in order to stay on their team. On the opposing side, if grades start to slip, athletes will be put on academic probation and are not allowed to play until grades improve. This is an example that the NCAA rules do apply and athletes do get punished for not holding up their end of the bargain.

Student athletes commonly go to school for one reason: their love for the sport they participate in. These student athletes get scholarships from large Division 1 schools, which means things such as schooling, board, and food will be paid for by the school so the student athletes do not have to pay for these benefits themselves (Patterson). If college athletes are to be paid, it will cause unfair compensation between players who are valued or played more than others. When student athletes are rewarded with a scholarship, they have nothing school related that they would need to pay for. This can lead them to blow all of their income on unnecessary or dangerous things such as drugs and alcohol which could get them removed from the team they

Collegiate sports brings in over $6.3 billion a year to universities all over the country. The college coaches are compensated up to seven figure salaries to head the programs. College athletes are not paid one dollar for their contribution for the revenue being brought in to the universities as a result of their performance. There is a strong argument that could be presented by the student athletes and an equally strong case that could be presented by the education institution. There is a scene in the movie “The Program”, a motion picture depicting inside workings of a major college football program. The scene takes place at a team dinner for the team. It shows a wealthy alumni of the university engage a freshman running back in a conversation. He praised him for his performance on the field. Unbeknownst to the student athlete he slips an envelope, which is perceived to be money into his front pocket and walks away. The student athlete played by actor, Omar Epps, came to the school as a highly recruited inner city athlete from a low socio economic background. Depending on your ethical upbringing, you may or may not have perceived this encounter as an illegal exchange. This cinematic portrayal of major college football life is realistic view of what is really taking place or at best has the possibility to happen. The fact that most major college athletes come from low income or broken households. Student