Should College Athletes Be Paid?

Critics may argue that if college athletes are paid, all the other members of other extra curricular activities would find it unjust if they weren't paid as well. That includes, but is not limited to, debate teams, cheer squads, and other various clubs but the purpose of secondary education is not to pad the pockets of students who wish to excel, but to further education.

Regardless of what anyone says student athlete's across the nation are generating more and more in revenue for top-tier Division 1 colleges. Student athletes of major Division 1 programs in some cases are bringing in more revenue for their universities than all other university sports and student organizations put together. If a debate team or a cheer squad took in $87 million in revenue and $65 million in profits like the University of Texas football team did in 2008, then they too should be paid. Student athletes are literally being pimped for hundreds of millions of dollars. These athletes devote so much time to the teams that they are apart of and if that team wins a National Title or gets any public notoriety the colleges reap the benefits of all the athletes hard work. Being a student athlete is basically a job in itself and college athletes deserve to be paid for it.

If students were paid to play Division 1 sports then student athletes would have more incentive to stay in school. It could be argued that more student-athletes would choose to stay in school and earn degrees if they were receiving some form of payment. Not many college athletes have a chance in pro sports and staying in school they could earn some type of money while earning a degree at the same time.

Just to mention one misconception, if college athletes were to be paid these kids would not be getting checks and salaries bigger than their parents. The money that they earn would most likely be going to some type of pension, trust fund, or retirement fund. Also, surely certain requirements will have to be met for the athletes to receive any type of funds for sports at all. Such as minimum GPA's, team requirements, etc. College athletes would still have to work hard not only as athletes but as students as well.