Discussed many times is if college athletes should be paid. However, no changes have been made to the system. It is time to start giving college athletes what they deserve. On March 31st, 2013 Kevin Ware, a basketball player from Louisville, had a brutal injury in a game. Luckily he recovered, but looking at the situation he could’ve been faced was a lot more than a broken leg. According to Peterson’s, an education company, as of July 27th, 2016 depending on your athletic department at your college they can drop scholarships after injury. Therefore Ware’s could’ve lost his scholarship in a blink of an eye. That could leave Ware’s college education at a risk as well. Possibly Ware and his family could be responsible for paying all those bills. He was busy making his school millions of dollars in this title game, and now he could be left with; no scholarship, no education, and paying for a bunch of medical bills. This is just one of many reasons why these players should be paid. Sure they get scholarships and tuition, but like in Kevin Ware’s situation that isn’t going to help them now. I do agree that they shouldn’t be paid millions like the professionals because they are just students. However they should be paid enough to make a living. When looking at it, college athletics are basically a job. Many things need to be discussed throughout this topic. Why they should be paid, how they will be paid, how much they will be paid, and overcoming some objectives are just four of them.

College athletes deserve to be paid, and there are many reasons why. First, these athletes put their body on the line. Each and every game they play they could get an injury that could end their career. Also these college athletes bring in a lot of money for their schools and the whole NCAA. According to Smartasset the NCAA brought in around $11 billion in revenue in 2014. That is more than the NBA or NHL brings in. Sure it is great that the NCAA is doing so well, but there’s one problem. The players are the heart and soul of this organization, and they don’t make a penny. That’s like working at a job and not getting paid. Another way these players bring in money for their university is apparel sales. Sure their name isn’t on the back, but it isn’t just a coincidence that the most sold jersey is the one with the best players number on the back. People would rather have the number of the best player, than just a random number. The final reason is the work that these athletes do. Research from USA today shows that college athletes spent around 40 hours a week on their game in 2012, that is basically a full time job! All that time is on top of their school work and time. Also if they got paid they would probably stick around school longer. They would no longer rush to the pros to get money, because they are already making some. Some people say that there is no efficient way to pay these players even if they have reasons to be paid.
I’ll get one thing straight to start off with. College schools can afford to pay these players money. The NCAA rakes in billions of dollars each year, but some still say that they can’t afford it. There has been many proposed ideas on how to pay these players over time. First off is a salary cap idea. The one I will explain was written by a New York Times writer, Joe Nocera, on January 8th, 2016. Joe says that every Division one college program should have a salary cap. This would work just likes the pros, but with vastly lower prices. He then goes on by saying that each player should have a minimum salary also. A number he threw out there was $25,000. This would not make the athletes rich, but would be enough for them to live like a normal college student. Now there would be some left over money if they are just paying them the minimum. This money could be used to help lure in the player they are recruiting. Already colleges build huge weight rooms and spend a bunch of money on their programs to lure in players. Now there would still be money spent, but more of it would go to the actual player instead of these huge workout facilities. Another proposal thrown out there is the performance idea. This simply would pay athletes on how they perform during the season. There are quite a few more ideas that I did not go over. One thing we still need to figure out is how much these players will be paid.

This is definitely one of the biggest arguments within this topic. Some people think that these players should be paid like the pros. Their argument is that college athletes aren’t much different than the pros. They get national exposure, television time, and bring in the same amount ,if not more, money than the professionals. All that tells them they should be paid like the pros. Others say that these athletes should be paid, but not as much as the pros. I think that is the most logical answer. After all, these players are just students like a bunch of other kids. Also I don’t think it's a great idea to have college kids running around with millions and millions of dollars in their hands. I believe they should be paid enough to get by like normal college students. These athletes can’t get a job due to their sport they participate in. Therefore, they should get paid for what is their “job”. Like I mentioned before, performance could affect how much these guys get paid. That would really spice up the competition. If athletes could get paid more or less on how they perform, a lot of players might really kick it into gear. It will be interesting to see how much the NCAA plays these players if they decide to.  This is a big part that is still very much up in the air. Lastly are some objectives that we can overcome to get these players their money.

There are many arguments on why college athletes shouldn’t also. Although I feel like some of the biggest arguments the other side makes are invalid. A lot of people say that these athletes are already getting paid with scholarships and tuition. That is true these players do get scholarships and tuition. However that money is simply not enough to live off of as a college student. Next is the argument that I believe is the weakest of them all. I won’t touch on it much, because I already went over it earlier. Some think college universities can’t afford to play these players. That is totally absurd when look at how much money these colleges make. The crazy thing is, the athletes are the ones who make the money for them! Howtheyplay stated in December of 2016 that with all the money these colleges make there would be no problem in paying the players. There is also the argument that playing these players would take away from the purity of the game. People think that once these players start getting paid they won’t play as hard. They believe the players will play with more passion if they are just playing for the love of the game. I think that paying players could actually motivate them more. Suppose I was working for somebody. If they offer me money if I do a good job, I will work harder to do a good job. Same thing with the players, if they are paid on how they perform they will try their very best to have a good game. These arguments that they make simply aren’t enough to keep the money out of the player's hand.

All in all I feel like the answer to this question is quite simple. College athletes almost work as many hours as a full time job on a weekly basis. Both these people help bring in money for who they are working for. Yet only one of them is getting paid for their work. That simply does not make sense. It would be insane for people to work with no pay these days. If we look at it, that is exactly what these players are doing. Sure they are young students who are just playing sports. Why should that matter though? They still are the face of an organization that generates billions of dollars each year. Paying college athletes is a no brainer. Some of the other things that are within it are more complex. Things like ways to pay them, how much they will be paid, and other objectives to overcome are the more complicated things in this topic. Hopefully the NCAA realizes that this is a situation that needs to be changed. Now if there was a serious injury like Kevin Ware’s there might be some financial help with this money he earned. This has been brushed aside for enough time. It is time to take action and give these college athletes what they deserve.