Why College Athletes Shouldn’t be Paid?
Introduction
Over the past decades, college athletics has become more popular among Americans. This debate never stops does it? Each year, people complain that college athletes should get paid for field jobs (Cooper, 2011). This is because college athletes generate money to their colleges and thus should get a share back. Maybe, high school athletes also should get paid; they as well generate money for their institutions. In major universities, college athletes do not pay for transportation, tuition, meal, and term facilities (Maurice, 2018). Given all these free offers, paying college athletes as well should not have a chance. Yet, sport activities in colleges are not about money (Cooper, 2011). Still, the opportunity to play a game that an athlete likes should not be considered a job. The paper gives the reasons why college athletes should not get paid.
Education and Scholarships
Collegiate-level athletes acquire higher learning in universities that most of their secondary schoolmates would not afford (Ekow, 2015). Still, they graduate with a diploma or a degree. This means that college athletes are already compensated through the scholarships awarded to them based on their talents as determined by the athlete coach. Besides the university degree, college athletes get equipped with values that greatly assist them in dealing with real life hardships once they leave their colleges (Cooper, 2011). Before college athletes demand to get paid, it is important to account for the benefits they already enjoy. Athletic scholarships given to them are sufficient to cater for all the expenses they incur during the 4-year college period which they spend in the university including tuition, meals, medical care, and books (Ekow, 2015).
Allocation of Money
An analysis conducted on sports and athletics by (Ekow, 2015) revealed that only 23 out of 238 departments in the public educational institutions generate sufficient cash to cater for their expenditures. However, the amount of revenue generated from athletics does not exceed the cost for running an athletics program although sports are used as a marketing tool by most universities (Cooper, 2011). The raised revenue is used in paying staff salaries. In the United States, tuition cost per student is less than the salary that an athletic trainer earns, $44,720. The fact that most schools are unable to even pay their staff clearly indicates that student athletes should not be paid simply because there is no enough money to offer college athletes salary for their work (Maurice, 2018).
Contractual Agreement Terms
When a student is joining a university, he or she signs the scholarship contractual agreement. During the university studies, students not only have the opportunity to play their preferred sport and at a higher level but also have the opportunity to earn a degree (Ekow, 2015). In this reference, money compensation is not part of this contractual agreement and thus should be a non-issue during a student’s stay in the college. Prior to signing the admission form, students clearly understand that the university does not offer extra compensation to them. By signing the contract, a student declares to play for the university and not for personal gain (Maurice, 2018). In a nutshell, universities would get compelled to sanction some sporting activities so as to pay the college athletes.
Living the Dream
There is need for college athletes to wake up and understand that the privilege they have is being missed by their age mates who aspire to have the same chance (Cooper, 2011). Thus, college athletes should give their all to the game since that is what they like to enjoy. In real sense, a game is neither an hourly job nor a duty, but if they get compensated then this would be the meaning. The passion and dedication to the game would disappear. In this perspective, the college players should be passionate and proud about what meaning a game brings and makes them feel (Maurice, 2018).
Conclusion
College sports activities acts as students’ vehicle to attaining a graduate degree but not a career. Accessing education depends upon passionate and persistent participation in sports whereby the students get scholarships. A big number of college athletes graduate with a university degree without student loans which is the opposite of the students who do not participate in sports. However, many favor the idea of paying college athletics, but universities incur a lot in attempts to make the players benefit for the sports they participate in. Therefore, college athletes should not get paid.
References
- Cooper, K. J. (2011). Should College Athletes Be Paid to Play? Diverse Issues in Higher Education, 28(10), 12.
- Ekow, Y. N. (2015, October 14). Why N.C.A.A Athletes Shouldn’t be Paid. The New Yorker, 1-6.
- Maurice, R. J. (2018, July 18). Why College Athletes Should Not Be Paid. School Pride, 6-14.