Should college athletes be paid

Although the majority of college athletes have scholarships, I believe that they should be paid. In this speech I will tell you why I believe this. The first reason I have are scholarships. On average a Division 1 scholarship is $25,000. That’s $100,000 a year! But most athletes don’t last the full 4 years. Once a player is involved in a sport there’s politics, injuries and/or coaches calling them to the office to tell them that they aren’t needed anymore. Many players turn out to have a scholarship for only a year or 2 and then transfer to a different school which may turn out to be better in the end. It may seem like a lot of money but it only covers the basics, such as: mysterious, unknown university fees, tuition, housing, a meal-plan, and multiple hundred dollar textbooks. “Some players, if they come from a low-income household, get a few hundred dollars each semester from Pell Grants which enable them to buy chicken soup instead of chicken-flavored ramen.” Says Tyson Hartnett, a writer and Professional Basketball Player, October 21, 2013. Opposite of what everyone else thinks, being a college athlete is a full time job. On a typical day they wake up a little earlier than what they have to, to maybe get a morning practice or conditioning session before classes. After school they go to afternoon practices that could last hours, go to mandatory study hall and then get home to finish any homework that they have and/or study for a test.
College athletes also have to juggle a job on top of that, if they are even lucky enough to have time for one. The only thing with jobs is that they would have to quit them as soon as the season started up. “Scholarships don’t equal cash in a player’s pocket. Even with any type of scholarship, college athletes are typically dead broke.” Tyson Hartnett, October 21, 2013.
There are people that say being an athlete is a choice and if they can’t handle all that is being piled on their plate that they should quit. And I understand