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Should College Athletes be paid or compensated in any way?
San Diego University for Integrative Studies
Rodrigo Suelotto
Writing and Skills Class
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Abstract
It is not new that the question “Should College athletes be paid or compensated in any
way” is made. This study investigated the currents arguments of both sides. Some of the
favorable reasons are the amount of money that the student athletes bring to the university and
media, and the dedication that they put in practices and games. On the other hand, the ones who
advocate contraire of it claim that this could detract from the purity of the game. In addition,
many student-athletes already receive scholarships and other benefits. In this study, it was
concluded that the arguments favorable to this questions are more consistent and coherent, and
the college should be paid or compensated.
Keywords: Student; Athletes; NCAA; Wages
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Should College Athletes be paid or compensated in any way?
According to the National College Athletic Association (NCAA), student athlete is “A
student whose enrollment was solicited by a member of the athletics staff with a view toward the
student’s ultimate participation in the intercollegiate athletics program.” There are more than
460,000 student athletes currently participating in one of the 24 collegiate sports in US. There
are 1123 colleges and universities affiliated with NCAA (Emmert, 2017).
The main benefit of being a student-athlete is receiving scholarship. Annually, NCAA
Divisions I and II schools provide more than $2.9 billion in athletics scholarships to more than
150,000 student athletes. However, in order to receive that request, the student needs to work
hard for a long period of time.
Since very early, boys and girls have practices and tournaments for their high school and
club teams. Besides that, it’s common for parents to pay for private lessons for their children,
due to increase their sports’ ability. Even with all this effort, the chances of getting an award is
low. In 2013, there were 55 high school athletes for every scholarship available (O’Rourke,
2013).
Once started, the student athlete’s journey will find out that life won’t be easy. If you are
in season, your day will be 6:00 am weightlifting practice, classes from 08:00 till 12:00 am, and
sport’s practice during the afternoon. At evening, you still need to do your homework; it doesn’t
matter how tired you are. With this schedule, associated with the pressure of academic and sports
results, might lead to a high level of stress and/or depression.
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According to Athletic Insight’s study (Wilson and Pritchard, 2005), student athletes
reported higher than usual stress in several variables, like having lots of responsibilities, not
getting enough time for sleep, and having demanding extracurricular activities. Moreover, in a
survey with 257 student athletes, 21% of them reported experiencing symptoms of depression.
Yang et al. (2007).
With all this endeavor and sacrifice, people ask what are the real advantages of being
student athletes. In the NCAA point of view, “college education is the most rewarding benefit of
the student athlete experience.” However, despite being a great contribution to their lives, it
seems that they deserve much more than only scholarships.
Recently, there has been major discussion if student-athletes should be paid. Considered
