Image via Wikipedia Today I was watching a great college sports movie, Blue Chips. The movie tells a story about how money has corrupted the world of college basketball and college athletics in general. It ask the question, is it ok to pay college athletes for what they do for the school? The movie depicts a coach that would answer that question with a firm no until he is faced with a few bad years and great desire to win. The boosters say yes because they want their team to win and the school, as well as themselves, to make money. Why has no one pointed out the obvious? The players that people want to pay are already being paid by the universities.I’m not crazy and I’m not stupid, I just feel that tuition along with room and board count. The major players in all the sports played at the collegiate level receive full rides to the universities that they decide to play for. That covers every expense that the school would get from any other student including tuition, fees, a room to stay in, up to a full meal plan, and the price of books. I reviewed the cost of attending the last 6 BCS National Champions and found that this is not a small stipend. It cost a resident of Georgia $23,486 to attend Auburn University and $37,502 for non- residents. The lowest cost for a resident student at one of these universities was $10,412 for the University of Alabama. The highest cost was for USC, $53,618 per year and that didn’t specify if it was the resident or non-resident rate. That means that, for a typical 4 year degree plan, a full ride athlete gets anywhere from $41,648 to $214,472 to play a game. How is that not enough?
I have heard about the universities making millions off of these athletes and the athletes get nothing. A top quality education shouldn’t be considered nothing, especially since not all scholarship athletes will make the professional ranks in their sport. Thanks to what the universities are doing for them these athletes will have options that they might not have had otherwise. Besides, it’s not like only one athlete gets a scholarship per year at these universities. Every sport has multiple scholarships to give every year so the university has well over 100 scholarships being honored per year potentially costing the university millions of dollars.
I have also heard about how some of these athletes’ families are so poor that they can’t afford to go out and enjoy the college experience. These students have to spend so much time practicing and studying that they don’t have time to work a part time job to earn spending money. Ok, I can see that, but every campus in this country has entertainment brought right to them. Movies are shown on campus, comedians tour campuses, theater and music programs perform, well known bands will tour to campuses. All major universities have rec. centers as well as student lounges filled with TV’s, pool tables, video games and more. If your parents can’t afford to give you a little spending money then so be it. The university doesn’t owe you anymore than it already provides.
Buying talent is college athletics is wrong. The scholarship programs are more than enough payment for any athlete. The student athlete is much better off for what they get out of the deal then the universities. The universities get you for 4 years and whatever revenue that you may generate with your play for that 4 year term. You don’t have to pay for a college education that can potentially carry you for the rest of your life whether you go pro in your sport or not. The advantage goes to the student athlete.
