Paying Athletes Essay, Research Paper

As you sit at the stadium or in your home and watch college football, basketball, or even baseball, do you ever wonder where the money goes from all the ticket sales? Colleges make a lot of money from their athletics. I feel that the profit that is made should partly go back to the student athlete. College athletes should be paid for their participation in sports, since sports make a lot of money for the college.

A student athlete’s schedule is very hectic. There are many activities that have to be attended daily. A student athlete is expected to go to class every day; and later in the day they are expected to meet at practice, no matter what the sport. After practice, the student athlete must eat dinner. Then the person has to go home to their dorm to do homework, which can last for hours. There is very little time during the day, to allow the student athlete to get a job. Most of the time coaches will not allow the students to work, due to schedule conflict, and it is also hard on the student’s studies. If the coach doesn’t allow a job and there is no time for one, where does the student get money?

Student finances are very limited. Most of the money that students have is from parents or student loans. Students need money for food, gas and laundry. If a student eats three meals a day, it would usually cost then about fifteen dollars. For a five-day week it would be around seventy-five dollars. Usually the student athletes do not travel much, so gas expenses would be minimal. However there are those occasional trips home to see family. The student also needs money for laundry. Laundry runs around five or six dollars per week. Several years ago, student athletes at colleges and universities were given laundry money, which was twenty-five to thirty dollars a week. The money could be spent freely. It was like an allowance that your parents would give you every week. I feel that this little support would at least help the student when money is hard to come by at home. With the financial help of the college a student athlete parents would only have to supply around fifty or sixty dollars per week instead of eighty or ninety dollars. A student would have less financial troubles if they were compensated for athletics. If athletes were paid they could have a better start out of college. For instance if the student athlete has to get a loan during college because he or she has no money for necessities, that student athlete has started to dig a financial hole. That hole will be a burden to the student athlete when her or she graduates from college. Also the student athletes parents will not be financially troubled when the student graduates from college. It would make it easier on student athletes and their parents mentally and physically if student athletes were paid. Mentally the parents would not have to worry about paying the bills when tuition is due. Physically the parents and students would not have to break their back to work overtime, or to have a job while in school, and play athletics as well.

I feel that student athletes have a lot to worry about. One is their grades; two is there performance in games. I feel the last thing a student athlete should worry about is how they are going to make money to pay for the education, since the student plays a sport that makes money for the college. Student athletes should be compensated for their participation in athletics while attending college.