Student athletes perform and entertain millions of college sports fans. Without them, the millions of dollars that collegiate athletics generates simply would not exist. We wouldn’t have the millions of fans buying tickets to watch a game, and those same fans definitely wouldn’t be subscribing to those expensive cable and satellite sports packages. Despite this, the student athlete receives zero monetary compensation, and I think they should.

Those who oppose paying athletes frequently refer to the free education that the student athlete receives because of scholarships. That education is dependent on the condition of their health and success to the team; these schools place education second to athletics.

If the student athlete is hurt or unsuccessful, they are suddenly discarded and the player is left with nothing.

In contact sports like football, no one ever mentions the lifetime of healthcare bills that athletes are sometimes left with. If a player is left with a debilitating injury caused on the playing field, how will that free education compensate them? Players sacrifice their bodies when competing and all they get is a “thank you” while the school is counting the money made off of the player.

Universities are run like businesses when it comes to athletics, and the student athletes are the ones left having to juggle their schoolwork, job, early practices and all the traveling across the country.

The ongoing NCAA tournament can be used as an example of how universities value making money over their students receiving a proper education. Forbes recently released information stating that teams that make a deep run in the tournament will have missed an average of 17 days of classes, or 24 percent of the spring semester. Doesn’t that reduce the value of the free education that athletes are receiving? Yet rather than attending class, many of the student athletes are hundreds of miles away preparing for a basketball game. How are these athletes supposed to be students first when the most important item on the agenda is preparing for the big game?

Last year, college athletes helped the NCAA generate over $6 billion with a largely unpaid labor force. During events, such as March Madness or football’s bowl games, that figure can almost reach one billion dollars. But student athletes see none of that because most of it goes to pay their head coaches and other aspects of their schools’ programs.

Players at some schools, like Northwestern University, have taken steps to be formally represented by a labor union. Those players aren’t looking to be paid a crazy amount of money for what they do, all they want are guaranteed scholarships in case of injuries and trust funds that players could access after their NCAA eligibility expires, which would allow them to finish their degrees.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with universities trying to make as much money as possible, but the student athletes who are generating this money should be earning at least a small piece of the pie.

Athletes earn their schools millions of dollars, increase enrollment, and are used as a recruiting piece for generations. Top NCAA executives are earning more than one million per year while a student athlete can’t even earn 20 dollars for signing an autograph.

We need to open our eyes and compensate the student athletes that put their bodies on the line as well as entertain us.

Con-  March is over, end the madness now

When it comes to paying college athletes, I have to think that the idea alone is ridiculous.

Students come to college and are already given money like financial aid and grants to go to school, so why is it necessary to give them more money just because they are athletes?

I’ve always noticed that if a college wants an athlete bad enough, they offer them scholarships, but now they want to pay them on top of this.

I get that, yes, it’s expensive to go to school and that it could be seen as good, but to other students on the campus, including myself, it seems like favoritism toward the athletes only because they draw a crowd for sporting events.

If a college is seeing it as a good thing, why not take the funds and put them into each department equally? At least that way it’s fair across the board.

Now they want to add into the mix paying student athletes and even a union for the athletes. How far can this honestly go?

Don’t get me wrong, I think athletes deserve the recognition for being good at the sport that they play, I just think there needs to be more thought put into the whole idea of paying them.

When I see an athlete at school, I don’t see them as a person who plays a sport. I see them as someone who is just another student who happens to have a special skill.

If they are unable to afford to play the sport, which requires them to miss school and possibly work, then maybe they need to change their priorities to the more important focus of college.

Other students are expected to be able to pay for all the fees without the benefits of getting scholarships most of the time.

I rely on my job and financial aid to pay my way through school, and I don’t get the chance to have the school pay me to go to the school and for any extra credit activities that I choose to do.

With March Madness happening, I understand that the athletes are looking at all the money they are having to put out for costs, but the schools take care of the more expensive parts of it, such as the hotel and other fees associated with travel that are required to get them to the games.

At least that is my understanding, and I’ve never heard any different.

So what exactly do the athletes need the extra funds for? Other than putting the money into their own pockets to buy things they don’t even need for school.

I feel frustrated that despite the fact that a lot of students might express a dislike to the idea, no matter what I, or anyone else say, these athletes will probably still end up being paid just for going to school.

There has to be a better way of dealing with this issue without making other students feel left out of everything just because they don’t play a sport.

College is supposed to be about education, such as finishing a degree and moving into the work force.

It’s not about the constant strain of which sport will be better this year and who is going to bring in the most money for the school.