In our society today many people believe that student athletes have an easier time than the average everyday student. They have these ideals about student athletes because they think that every athlete has a scholarship and has their schooling paid for as well as housing and meals. However, many college athletes struggle to get a warm meal in their stomach, have clean clothes, and have the daily necessities of living because their scholarship only pays for certain things. In this case, college athletes should be paid because many go through hard times and hardships in their lives as student athletes while in college. To summarize, college athletes should be paid for what they bring to their schools and what these people have at stake while playing sports and also trying to be model students. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay When the word student-athlete comes to mind, what do you think of it? Many people think about sports they enjoy watching or could do less of and how these athletes have scholarships to play these sports. The organization that most of these student athletes play for is called the National Collegiate Athletic Association or more commonly known as the NCAA. The NCAA is "a member-driven organization dedicated to the well-being and lifelong success of college athletes." (NCAA) The NCAA is one of the largest college organizations for any single sport with great programs from football, basketball, baseball and etc. What many people don't know is that the NCAA is an organization that makes billions of dollars from these student athletes who play these sports and never see a dime. Overall, because the NCAA makes so much money from these students, the argument has been made that the student-athletes are getting paid. Many people don't believe that student-athletes should be paid to play a sport because they are already "paid" to go to school. To explain why people believe that a scholarship is enough for athletes to live off their income while in school and not get any kind of allowance to entertain thousands or millions of people every week. According to the source, In Matter of Fact, it states: "Maybe 40 - 50 years ago it was fine, but now there's a whole new generation where a lot of broadcast networks have a lot of TV deals and sponsorship deals." Not giving these student athletes any kind of paycheck or payment for these sponsorship deals that the NCAA is making them play this sport is absolutely wrong. So when these people and organizations get sponsorships and TV deals, why not pay the student athlete when the NCAA makes millions of dollars off the names and performances of these students? While there are those who believe student athletes should be paid, there are those who disagree and believe they should not receive any pay. One of the many things people argue is that schools shouldn't be able to pay student athletes at all, but the sponsorships that schools have acquired should be able to provide athletes with a salary. As explained in the article Student Athletes Shouldn't Get Paid While Some Students Still Have Loans to Pay for School, written by Nicole Smith, she states, “With the debate over paying college athletes, I find the answer is simple: let that the school does their part in paying for a full ride that can be worth up to $176,000.” The author here is lookingto make sure that athletes don't deserve to receive extra money on top of the scholarships they received from the school while they are normal people who have to struggle to pay for school on their own. So the author raises a point about why sponsorships should pay student athletes. Smith then states “allowing companies like Nike and Adidas to pay individual athletes whatever they want for an athlete to wear their brand of shoes during a game. As far as I'm concerned, this is the trade deal every college athlete should receive at this stage in their career.” This statement says that since big companies receive promotions from these players who wear their equipment, the players should be paid in return. Overall, like many, Smith believes these athletes should be paid, but not by schools, they should be paid by companies that make money off their name and likeness. There are many reasons why the student athlete should be paid and there are the vast majority of ways people think universities or companies should pay them. One of the most important reasons why a student athlete should be paid is that the sport they play is like a full-time job in that it requires a lot of time and effort if you want to be successful. In the source titled Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid? Both Sides of the Debate, written by Madisen Martinez, states: “Being a college student-athlete is a full-time job, bouncing between the weight room, the field, classes and film sessions. College athletics is an extracurricular activity, but the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament calendar provides an extended period in which student-athletes are required to be absent from school.” This quote refers to the fact that athletes have a much larger load than the average student as they have to juggle the hectic schedule of being a football player and a full-time student. Later in the article the topic of how much money the NCAA makes from athletes is brought up as it states, "Not only are they missing classes, they are absent for nationally televised games that make a lot of money and receive millions in spectators". ”. When the NCAA makes so much money from athletes, why can't they give them a single cent? After all, student-athletes essentially work full-time jobs while also being full-time students. Another reason why student athletes shouldn't be paid is because they don't play the sport at the highest level. The whole point of getting a scholarship is to be able to get an education that some people otherwise couldn't afford by not paying them to play a sport they don't play professionally. In the source titled Should College Student-Athletes Be Paid? Both Sides of the Debate, written by Madisen Martinez, states in the article, "...even though these college student-athletes can play at an advanced level, they still aren't playing at a professional level, notes Anderson. It's not their job to do sports; is an extracurricular activity that is pursued while pursuing a higher education. Student-athletes go to school to learn, and many are fortunate to do so at a reduced cost, given the often generous athletic scholarships athletes were paid, their motivations as students would change. They are still in college – which is a privilege in itself – while pursuing their dream of playing a sport.” the opportunity to attend school should be sufficient, but does not take into account the personal life of the athlete andthe difficulties that may arise from it. Overall Martinez provides some good points of view on why the student athlete should not be paid, but looking from my perspective the reason most athletes attend college is to continue playing the sport they love and not Going to school for free seems to be an advantage. The NCAA should at least start paying athletes who come from big programs or who are well known in sports like football and basketball since they bring in more money. An example of this would be the case of Ohio State's Chase Young and potential first overall draft pick in this upcoming NFL draft. He is one of the biggest names coming out of college football right now and Nike and the NCAA have made a significant amount of money selling his jersey and using his likeness. In fact, Young was suspended for breaking NCAA rules by borrowing money from a family friend so he could fly his family to one of the biggest games of his career. In fact, he paid this money back in full, but the NCAA didn't see it that way and decided he was given an unfair advantage because of who he is, but they see no problem with using him to make money. Well, this is due to the many things these programs have done to generate a tremendous amount of cash flow for the coaches and programs. In Source Pay to Play: Should College Athletes Get Paid? written by Krikor Meshefejian states many things that these college programs do, one of the few things he states is "The reality is that college sports programs, i.e. 'big name' programs like football and basketball programs at major schools , they are activities that can earn a large amount of money for their respective schools.” (Meshefejian 5) other words the author is trying to say that if these programs can make these kids earn so much money, why can't they give them the money they make every week? Like Young's example, these student athletes don't see any of the money they're making, but the NCAA doesn't understand that some of these kids don't have it like that California has decided to introduce a new bill that would allow college athletes to earn money with their likeness and names by being able to sign endorsement deals and even hire an agent. They are fighting the NCAA's philosophy that athletes should have a college degree and not a check. More and more states are slowing to follow in California's footsteps and this is long overdue as the NCAA has generated a whopping $14 billion in revenue this year alone. This has raised major concerns for the NCAA as they fear college sports will turn into more of a business rather than students trying to earn a degree. They also tried to apply a measure against this bill by stating that they will deem the schools ineligible as they fear that it will become unfair as more athletes would go to those schools in California to have the ability to make money that could really help them. Officials are fighting for this right for students because they know the NCAA will do them no good as they are essentially hindering every athlete who comes through their system. Being a student-athlete takes a toll on many athletes. This is due to the many things they have on their plates as they try to succeed in the classroom and on the field. The path life has taken going through the JUCO system and being a student athlete while being a full time student and working has been challenging since I don't have a lot of time to spare but it has taught me how to handle?.