Should Student Athletes Be Paid In College?

By: Jasmine Blain
College athletes are not getting paid for the amount of work they put in their sport. Is this right or wrong? Most people and of course athletes believe that they should get paid, not just because they are playing a sport, but because they are playing a sport and still going to school. Athletes are also bringing a lot of publicity to the school as long as they are doing well in their sport.

This topic is very arguable because most people believe that athletes should get paid because the professional league gets paid and all they are doing is playing a sport. Well athletes in college are playing their sport and going to school, which isn't a easy task at all. Then there are the other people who believe that athletes already get enough privileges like: getting a full scholarship to school, getting free food everyday, free housing, and plenty more stuff.

From my personal perspective i would say that i think student athletes should be getting paid in college. Being a student athlete myself i know how much work we put in everyday and how we are determined to do well in our sport and school. We also are few out of the whole world who have the some what the same talent as we do, but we got chosen out of the many, so we should be rewarded for our talent. I mean the NBA and WNBA get paid for doing what they love, so why cant we? But then again i fell like we do get a lot of gifts and other privileges that not many people don't get so we shouldn't seem greedy or anything. Its really a hard decision to choose whether to get paid or not, because there are pros and cons to both decisions. I just see it like dis, even if we don't get paid for what we are doing, we still make the best out of it and look forward for the next level where we will be getting paid.

As i was doing some research, i found out that NCAA had stated that "paying college athletes is very unlikely to happen because they have already established the Special Assistance Fund in 1991 to help college athletes in financial need to cover basic or emergency expenses. A maximum of $500 an athlete year can be used for traveling home, school supplies, medical costs, and personal expenses. There is also a Student-Athlete Opportunity Fund available to all athletes regardless of financial need. This can also be used for school supplies, medical costs, and personal expenses." Now i sort of don't agree with this because if you think about it 500 dollars isn't enough money to cover some things, for example medical bills, blood test, or just the necessities that we need for everyday living.