Paying Student Athletes

Since the NCAA started to get a lot of publicity over how much money they make, there has been an outcry to pay the athletes that provide all the excitement. Whether it’s March Madness, college football bowl games, or the College World Series, these events draw in huge amounts of money, with none of it going to the players. There are plenty of arguments for and against paying college athletes. Some on the pro-side of the argument say that these athletes do not have time for anything outside of their teams, meaning they can’t get a job anywhere else while they’re in school. Some people arguing against paying them say the athletes are already getting a free education, and they shouldn’t have to add to it. There may not be a right or wrong answer, but the more money that’s flowing around from college sports, there is more and more pressure being put on colleges to pay their players.

There are some advantages to paying a college athlete. For instance, in college basketball nowadays, most of the best players do not stay in college for more than one or two years before declaring for the NBA draft because they want to sign that big contract as quickly as possible. However, if they were already being paid in college, the incentive to leave early may decrease and colleges may be able to retain more players, which would increase the graduation rate for them. For example, the graduation rate on John Calipari’s Kentucky Men’s Basketball team is very low because no one on the team stays for more than 2 years. If these players were paid, more of them would stay on the team longer and actually graduate with a degree. Another advantage to paying them is that it could teach athletes how to better manage their money before turning professional. There are too many stories about professional athletes being rich while they’re playing, but a year after they retire, they go bankrupt. If they had the opportunity to learn in college the importance of investing and saving money, maybe we wouldn’t see as many bankrupt retired pro athletes.

Like every two-sided argument, paying college athletes included, there are disadvantages that go along with the advantages. One disadvantage is determining which athletes to pay and how much. If fencing is a NCAA varsity sport, do