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July 19, 2011


College Athletes Should NOT Be Paid

by cooperj55

By: Josh Cooper

Over the past few years there have been debates on whether college athletes should be paid as if they were professional athletes. College athletes are guys that are trying to get to the pros and therefore, are not paid because they have not made it yet. Because these players are in college, they should never be paid to play their sport.

There is a reason why it is called college sports. It is called college sports because the athletes that play in it are students and not professionals. Just like any field, you go to college to hone your skills and learn how to do your job. College sports are no different from this. I am a broadcast journalism major and no one pays me to set up interviews, anchor a show, or broadcast on the best college radio station, U92 FM. The reason why no one pays me to do any of that is because I am learning my field in order to get paid when I get a job. In college sports you play to get to the pros, not to earn a paycheck as a student.

Another big reason why college athletes should not be paid is because colleges are paying enough money to build facilities, pay coaches, give scholarships, and pay athletic directors to make sure that they have the best chance of winning. If colleges pay their athletes, there will not be as much money to go around for any of these things. Also, in a bad economy like this, they can’t afford to pay athletes. If a school wants to pay a big-time coach, they can’t pay their players. Also, they are already helping their players get into the school by giving them their scholarships so that they can make school as affordable as possible.

Reggie Bush, one of the greatest college athletes ever, being forced to return his Heisman will forever be one of the black eyes on the NCAA. Can stains like this be prevented by paying college athletes?

What people forget about college athletes is that they are student athletes. The word student comes first before athlete. In college, they are students just like everyone else. No one gets paid to get that A+ or to get that pat on the back for doing well on a test or on an activity at school. In college, you are supposed to learn how to grow up and how to manage your life. You are also supposed to get a job in order to support yourself and learn what it takes to earn a living in this country. If colleges pay their athletes, it defeats the purpose of any of this because you are hurting the players’ integrity.

Adding to that, can anyone imagine if colleges pay their athletes, how tough it will be for coaches to discipline their players even when the player knows, even if they screw up, they are still getting paid a lot of money . This affects character and it affects how they will act if they go out in the real world and play professionally. College teaches you about life and tells you to be disciplined, and it is very hard to be disciplined when you are getting paid a lot of money.

Will paying college athletes diminish the college degree?

Also, the reason why college players are going to college these days, especially basketball, is because they weren’t good enough for a team in Europe to pick them up. In that case, they have to learn how to play better in order to reach the pros in the NBA. If you are not good enough to play professionally, why should you get paid to play in college, a place where you learn about everything? While other students are trying to earn that difficult engineering degree or become that physician which are the most important jobs in our country, people need to take a step back and see that college athletes should be treated like everyone else.

The biggest reason why college athletes should not be paid is because it would ruin a culture. Paying a college athlete money separates them from the student body. One main reason why a lot of people love college sports is because the players are students just like you and are in the classroom and you see them on campus. Because of this, you feel as if you’re closer to them because they are just as part of the community as other students are. Paying a college athlete takes a lot of that buzz out of it because it separates them. It says to the students, these players are getting paid and that they are more important than anyone else at the school. Because of that, college would lose a lot of fans because that was one of the best things about college sports. If colleges pay their athletes, college sports will never be the same and will never have that same buzz that people always get when the band plays and the team steps on the court or field to play.

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22 Comments Post a comment
  1. Tom
    Aug 18 2011

    I agree the college should not pay players. I am more concerned about why NCAA believes that “off-the-field” so-called “benefits” actually impact a player on the field of play. I do not see how a washer/dryer, limo, hotel, clothes, cars, actually help the player run faster and score touchdowns. What proof have they produced on this aspect of so-called benefit. Yeah I would never ask for players to get paid by colleges. Again, I am referring specifically to off the field “so-called” benefits that supposedly cause players to play better on the field and win championships because of it. It’s like the drug tests in track. My debate cannot compare to drug tests in track. The drug benefits the runner and that is why they forbid it. But if the track runner had a washer and dryer, limo, hotel, I do not see how it would make him run faster. There is no benefit to his running by having these items. Please provide a reason that defines off-the-field benefits impacting performance on the field-of-play?

  2. Jatain
    Feb 25 2012

    You are a journalist major and you need to do more work looking up data on this topic because obviously you have no clue of what you are talking about. This is not why most bball players go to college. Number 1. basketball players who get Division 1 scholarships are not some bums off the street. These guys are the best players in the country and can play pretty much play anywhere, and europe would be the last place an american basketball want to go FIRST and do your research how many american basketball players during the NBA lockout broke record salaries over seas…..UMM becaasue the NBA is the bestand those european teams were willing to pay top doller for american players. And these young athletes leave after their first yr anyway because they do not want to go to college because they do not want to do the work. To be honest if it was not for the NBA saying YOU HAVE TO HAVE 1 YR OF ELGIBILITY ON THE COLLEGIATE LEVELTO ENETER THE NBA DRAFT… they would not even consider college and just go strait out off high school and make their millions easily without the hastle of having the debate on should they be paid or not on the collegiate level. Number 2. why would a baskeball prospect consider europe over the NBA…come on now you are american dude not even gonna get into that…..Your last statement “they have to learn how to play better in order to reach the pros in the NBA. If you are not good enough to play professionally, why should you get paid to play in college.” Dude they are good to play professionalyy but ummmm yea you know that now because of the NBA elgibility rule. And since your a journalist might wana see how much the SEC brought in last yr nah ill spare you the time… SEC made over a billion dollers in Revenue in athletic receipts. and sure the economy is bad.. And youlive in american no matter how fucked up the economy is ameircans will always have money for two things Education, and Sports. some of the schools revenue from sports even go to educational purposes and departments. Sooo next time you having an interview with a camera might wana thank those athletes who got that check from a bowl game that most likely paid ofr the camera you use, the microphine, and even the damn journal you brought from the book store to write In. Yea an another thing at least you can work and get paid in school man , sure athletes get a fullride but they cant even afford a train, plane ticket home, smh dont even have enough money to get a 5 dollers haircut, smh like i said you make some good arguments not trying to down you or bash you just do more research and have a stronger argument with better reasons. And im not saying pay them millions at least a monthly stipend of like 500 dollers a month im sure they afford that out of 1 billion $ budget dont you think Mr.Cooper.

    • Conn
      Mar 21 2012

      Lol, you spelled dollar/dollars wrong a lot right there.

    • eric
      Dec 9 2012

      you need to do more research youself you dumbass. pay who a stipend of 500 just the basketball and football players? no, you would have to pay every single athletic player, including girls, for their are certain rules. and aslo, the fact that they don’t have enough money to spend on haircuts and whatever is still nothing compared to how much regular student have to pay to enroll. so they should be paid absolutley nothing

      • Jatain
        Jan 1 2013

        Well based off your comments you must be an nonathletic person who does not know what a college athlete goes through and yet alone you have probably never picked up a ball in your life, . Lol you called me a dumb ass. You believe they should not get paid nothing because why??????????? you have some hostility towards athletes lmao your funny dude

    • Anonymous
      Apr 3 2014

      I was a college athlete and even with my perspective the players no matter who they are should not get paid. In my eyes I was paid; with an education. Whilst other students have to take out college loans, grants, and such I had the luxury of not doing so. A free education is more than worth having to “suffer” for a couple of years. I as a former player would much rather have a free top notch education than being paid any kind of money. I mean once you get out of sports if your not good enough to play in the pros which is the case for a lot of people, what will you do? Education is much more useful than what people like to think it is anymore.

  3. Conn
    Mar 21 2012

    Very great points and I agree 100%. Really helped me with my essay at school!

    • jasmine
      Sep 11 2012

      same here thanx for the help !! :D

  4. Sam
    Mar 25 2012

    Same here really helped my report

  5. George
    Mar 26 2012

    they should not be paid! If they do it will eventualy go all the way down to the high schools and then they will want to get paid for the sport they are playing

  6. George
    Mar 27 2012

    You like penis in your poop shoot?!?!?(;

  7. ltggpm
    Apr 2 2012

    I chose to argue against athletes being paid for a debate and this didn’t help at all. Jatain is right, I don’t know how you’re a journalist major, none of your arguments are supported by facts, it’s mostly opinions and guess work. Throw in some facts and references and I’d be happy to use them. Also, work on your writing style, I honestly thought this was a report written by a 10th grader.

  8. Monica
    Apr 3 2012

    Honestly, I believe they SHOULD GET PAID. It’s true they have to be students before athletes but we all know that since middle school and if they werent good students they wouldnt be playing anyways.

  9. kemba bryant
    Apr 25 2012

    the are employees not players… they absolutly should get paid….sunny D

    • misterflufficins
      Nov 29 2012

      so true

  10. jwash23
    May 8 2012

    Here are a few reasons why college athletes should get paid. The average college student gets paid about $14,400 a year while the average student-athlete makes $0. just about 40 hours a week are spent in practice per week if you take out watching film, studying plays, training, recovery, and lifting weights. If you add all that, it comes out to an estimated extra 9 hours per week. That’s 49 hours. The time spent in the classroom per week is a little over 39 hours and tack on an additional 5 hours of studying, getting tutored, doing homework, and getting that paper ready for tomorrow. 44 hours of academics. so 49 plus 44 equates to 93 of the 168 hours that are in a week. What kind of job could a college athlete hold with 75 hours left of free time that would not take a toll on your ability to stay alert and healthy. A lot of college athletes come from areas where their parents may not be able to support their everyday needs. Besides, other students get paid for doing jobs around campus like janitorial work or groundskeeping. Being a college student-athlete is a full time job. Players need a way to earn a living. College athletes certainly don’t need multi-million dollar contracts and agents, but they should get at least enough to get by and go see a movie and have some free time here and there.


  12. misterflufficins
    Nov 29 2012

    i deffenitly think that college athletes should be paied.

  13. nick
    Mar 20 2013


  14. asder123
    May 13 2014

    i agree with this im actually doing an persuasive report about this in my english class


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