Photo Credit: Zachary Pereira

Clouding the judgement of many, money is prepared to ruin the purity of the College game.

Student-athletes or money makers?  People  debate whether college stars should be paid.  But will these shiny new paychecks ruin the purity of the college game?

College is a time in life where students learn key skills for their future.  Sports in college offer life skills not found in the classroom just like high school. However, unlike high school, college is the national exposure that some of the so called student-athletes receive. Although the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a 912.3 million dollar (2015) business, do the players really need money?

College is an expensive experience,  according to college board the average cost of college for 2015-2016 was $32,405 at private schools, $9,410 for in sate residents at public schools, and $23,893 for out-of-state residents at public schools.  However, when athletes receive all this tuition and fees for free because of scholarships, it feels useless to give them more money.

College athletes receive so much pay already, and aren’t even aware. A college education is one that not many have an opportunity to receive, let alone at large school. Student-athletes should cherish the idea of a free education that would cost others anywhere from $37,640 to $129,620.

It will also take away from the college game itself. Another argument is that paying professional athletes have not had their sports ruined. The key fact left out of the argument is that pro athletes play their sport as a job. They play to bring money in for themselves and their family. College athletes are student athletes and amateurs to some. Paying them fat checks would kill the purity the college game has established.

If this move does happen to occur, where will all this money come from. Colleges lose out on plenty of cash when the give scholarships and full rides. With a university and running sports programs, there is no money left for the athletes paychecks without budget cuts.

Only a few college sports reel in huge amounts of cash and exposure for the NCAA and their respective school. college football, men’s and women’s basketball take the cake in fame. So will it be fair to pay athletes from only three sports?  The school’s equestrian and water polo teams could disagree. They work just as hard and make the same sacrifices as others, however they get the short end of the stick. What about the other division of the NCAA? They may not get the same national exposure and bring in the same amount of money. They sacrifice their bodies and time to play like everyone else, but division three doesn’t even have the luxury of athletic scholarships. The players in the lower divisions play for the love of the game and that’s what paying the athletes will take away.

Others argue that it will bring sense of financial awareness to the athletes. It may even benefit them in the long run as many will most likely go professional. Also, they bring in so much money, why not pay them back. The ultimate question to all of this is how much pay should athletes receive?  The average NBA player makes $5.15 million, can we trust such young people with that kind of money? How much will money will teams have to give players? As long as these questions remain unanswered, college players will not receive their pay anytime soon, if ever.