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Compensation of College Athlete Students
In this paper, I aim to give an argument that college athletes students should be compensated. Paying college athletes students compensation seems to be a debate with no definitive conclusion (Knoester & Ridpath, 2020). On one side of the argument, individuals see it fit that students get paid for their sports performance as they are the fundamental piece that drives external revenue to universities. On the other side, some individuals argue that college athletes should not be compensated because they will focus more on sports rather than studying. Without college students participating in sports, sponsors would be scarce, and funding for facilities that would benefit the whole student body would be non-existent or subpar. It is essential to compensate college athletes students since they study and time to play at a competitive level.
The culture of sports is a significant element of the general college experience at many American universities. It might not be logical to argue that just particular campuses attract students as a result of their academic reputation; some campuses attract students due to their strong sports history and culture. According to (Kilburg, 2018), “The higher learning institutions tend to go to greater lengths to hire several most talented athletes in the nation.” Despite the fact that these athletes make significant revenues and publicity for the campuses, the only compensation they usually get is a full college scholarship. There is a need for a change since the current system is out of date and significantly modulates the athletes’ contribution in addition to encouraging them to skip college to be part of a professional sports league. As a result, the college learners who are athletes ought to be paid because it will be fair to them and also produce significant social and economic dividends for the college. They ought to be paid since they generate significant revenues for their respective learning institutions.
From the college students taking part in the sports activities, they generate millions of dollars in profit for the universities, coaches, conference, and network executives. They should also get some compensation since it is their efforts. One of the arguments is that what will the athlete’s scholarship do when they cannot get time to work on them. It is for the reason that college athletes study less. These learners sacrifice much of their studies in order to play at a competitive level. The cash that is saved from the athlete’s participation in sports should be enough to allow them to pay for the education in the event that they would want to shift their focus on other things. On the other hand, (Kilburg, 2018) asserts that, “It is a fact that college athletes commit approximately 30 hours per week to train, leaving less time to keep up with academic commitment.” Taking around 6-8 hours of their time every day for training limits them from focusing on their studies. It is true that even if the athlete gets time for it, the resulting grade would not be satisfactory. College athletes happen to be already drained and stressed from the tiresome daily training. The lack of energy to study negatively impacts them to a point where one turns to be a poor choice for employers after graduating from college.
Another reason that supports the argument that college athletes should be paid is that paying them prevents school switching. Some individuals claim that this will also benefit the colleges. One of the issues that affect college athletes is student-athlete school switching (Sow, 2019). A lot of them transfer from a particular college to another because one offers better training, coaching, freedom, and deals than the others. Changing the learning institution merely because of this reason takes more toll both on student and the institution. As a result, it takes more time to familiarize with the new environment, causing the college athletes’ grades to decrease and even their performance. Giving them compensation inform of payment can possibly provide them with an inducement to stay in the learning institution as schools will perhaps lock them in a contract. It will be advantageous to compensate the college athletes since collegiate sports bodies will become more transparent. The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a non-profit organization. That signifies that all of its income ought to be spent on collegiate sports organizations. Paying student-athletes will make way for a more transparent expenditure of The National Collegiate Athletic Association (Stocz et al., 2019). NCAA spends a lot of money on facilities that are unjustifiable or do not appear to materialize. Giving college athletes would reduce The National Collegiate Athletic Association’s spending on expensive facilities.
Being a college student-athlete is just like a full-time job, balancing between the classes and the field. College sports are extracurricular events, but the schedules of the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s competitions need a prolonged period in which the student-athletes ultimately miss the school. It is not that they only miss the classes, but they also become absent for the nationally televised games that make plenty of money and get millions of viewers. They should receive a small amount of the profit from the revenue they generate from taking part in sporting activities. That will encourage them to put more effort and even perform better in sporting activities. The compensation would vary, just as the colleges with the more successful teams get more televised money or time than those with less successful teams. The college athletes also give their colleges valuable exposure; hence they should be compensated. The exposure student-athletes bring to their learning institutions can boost donations and applications. There are some renowned colleges that got their name on the map as a result of a championship in sporting activities. The success student-athletes bring about from their participation can be dramatic. More broadly, research papers have shown that when a college football team rises from mediocre to great, there happen to be an 18.7% applications increase. As a result of this, college student-athletes should be compensated with some payment.
College athletics is a billion-dollar industry that has been in existence for a very long period of time. Because of the increasing ratings of college athletics, this number continues to increase. Stronger, faster, and bigger athletes always generate a lot of money. The college universities get more money during the year that it is only fair to the student-athletes if they get some compensation (Sow, 2019). They should get the payment based on the college apparel sales and revenue. I have a belief that college sports should be well thought out as a profession. Student-athletes deserve to be paid for their efforts. They are a critical part of America’s culture and financial system. Currently, student-athletes are thought of as amateurs. This behavior should stop since they also need some money. It is also significant to give them some payment since doing so will provide them with encouragement to stay longer in school and provide better results. Numerous of them come from poor social and economic backgrounds; hence, the incentive to leave the school to be part of the professional sports league is always strong. Suppose the higher learning institutions begin paying their athletes. In that case, a lot of them could have the motivation to complete college, which, as a result, signifies that the college sports fans will be able to watch them play for a long period. It will aid the college, and the students will be more likely to attend a live game if their favorite athlete is playing. Due to that, paying the college athletes is the right thing that will allow them to have benefited from the economic power of their star athletes for a longer period of time.
Under current NCAA regulations, payment for student-athletes is limited to a scholarship for their studies. Even though the law permits student-athletes to benefit from third-party deals, it does not need or even permit colleges to pay student-athletes for their efforts beyond the scholarship they already get (Kilburg, 2018). College athletes should be paid because they risk their bodies and become exposed to permanent damage. Among the best aspects of college sports is the players’ enthusiasm. Their passion and love for their respective game are infectious and admirable. However, there is a disadvantage to it. In their dedication to play to their best, a lot of college athletes fall victim to serious injuries that sometimes prematurely bring their careers to an end. It is something disturbing that their career coming to an end due to the bad injury will stop their scholarship; those college student-athletes put their bodies at risk of permanent damage, devoid of being compensated. When student-athletes hurt the knee, it might leave them limping for the rest of their lives. Concussions of suffering can result in depression and dementia. Those students who put their bodies on the line for every game they play and training session deserve to be compensated for the health risks they take in the process of playing or competing.
In conclusion, college student-athletes should be compensated no matter what the reasons. It is of great disadvantages to them when they are not compensated. Paying the student-athletes will motivate them to study well and perform better in sports. I believe that college athletes should be compensated.
Reference
Kilburg, T. (2018). Should Division I College Athletes Receive Compensation in Excess of their Scholarships? Major Themes in Economics, 20(1), 1-47.
https://scholarworks.uni.edu/mtie/vol20/iss1/3/
Knoester, C., & Ridpath, B. D. (2020). Should College Athletes Be Allowed to Be Paid? A Public Opinion Analysis. Sociology of Sport Journal, 1(aop), 1-13.
https://doi.org/10.1123/ssj.2020-0015
Sow, A. (2019). Should College Athletes Receive Compensation?
https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/pes_synthesis/77/
Stocz, M., Schlereth, N., Crum, D., Maestas, A., & Barnes, J. (2019). Student-Athlete Compensation: An Alternative Compensation Model for All Athletes Competing in NCAA Athletics. Journal of Higher Education Athletics & Innovation, 1(5), 82. Retrieved from
https://ir.una.edu/kin_facpub/4
