November 17, 2011
College Athletes Deserve To Be Paid Almost every week there is some sort of story that makes the news about a university breaking the NCAA rules. The debate is bigger than ever to start paying college athletes to play sports. It does not matter which sport it is, athletes need more than just a scholarship to pay for expenses outside of tuition, room, and board. A scholarship is strictly limited to these, but what about the expenses outside of those? It is time to start paying college athletes to play sports to cover the expenses that occur outside of a scholarship and the sport. With the growing costs of living, more and more athletes are looking for ways to get more money than their scholarship gives them. In return, most of the athletes are breaking NCAA rules to get money, which hurts the school, coach, and their self. Colleges around the country are getting punished, and losing legendary coaches because of athletes needing more money. Schools have turned to firing coaches because of athletes breaking these rules. College athletes should be paid because they need more than what their scholarship gives them, some sort of cut of the millions of dollars the schools make off the athletes. Also to help protect the coaches and schools from being placed under some form of punishment. A college athlete getting paid to play has been a topic of discussion the past few years, and the problem is only getting worse. However, there are reasons why many NCAA officials and school officials believe athletes do not need to receive any more money than their scholarships. A major point that these officials use is that paying an athlete for playing will then eliminate the amateurism of the NCAA. The NCAA has always been known to create a playing environment that is strictly at an amateur level. If a college athlete begins to get paid then this therefore eliminates the “amateur” title, and they are then recognized as