Should college athletes get paid? (Editorial)
More stories from David Delp
College football and basketball athletes want to get paid to play the sport, even though they could have a full-ride scholarship, or even a partial scholarship. After the recent March Madness Tournament, the new sports debate is whether college athletes should get paid to play.
Fred Bowen, a Sports Opinion Column Writer for KidsPost, said, “A government official recently ruled that the football players at Northwestern University are employees of the university–not student-athletes, as the colleges and National Collegiate Athletic Association claim.”
My personal opinion is that students shouldn’t be considered employees of the school. The students are getting room and board, food, classes, and more for zero to little money thanks to scholarships. The only employees of a university should be the teachers, the custodial workers, the cafeteria workers and so on.
Tyler Helvin, a CHS senior, agrees. “I feel they shouldn’t. NFL players are playing hard to get paid. If the college athletes are good then they will get paid in the NFL.”
Bowen also said, “Only football and men’s basketball are money-making college sports.”
I tend to agree with this statement, because I go to Shippensburg University almost every weekend to see my sister. The football stadium is always packed, and on days they have field hockey the same day as football, there is almost nobody at the field hockey game.
Jeremy Hafner, a senior said, “Paying college athletes is sort of a good thing.”
The players wanting to get paid are actually following the coaches. John Calipari, a head basketball coach at Kentucky University, gets paid $5.5 million a year just to coach a basketball team.
I think the coaches should get paid what the teachers make, because the coaches are just like teachers except they are coaching. The president of the United States makes way less than the Kentucky University coach. I think soldiers should make more money than football and basketball coaches.
Some schools, like Maryland University, recently left the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference) which had some great rivalries like Maryland vs. Virginia. Maryland joined the Big Ten Conference for more money.
Michelle Disbrow, a 12th grade English teacher, said, “I don’t think they should get paid. They already get scholarships. The NCAA should be doing something with the money for charity.”
The only good thing coming out of student athletes getting paid to play is they will probably play better than they do now.
Disclaimer: Articles designated as “Editorial” represent the views and opinions of the author, not the 2014-2015 Periscope staff, CHS Administration, or the CHS student body.
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This is David Delp’s first year on the Periscope staff. He will be a sports writer this year in Periscope. In his free time he enjoys watching football,...
Dean Zagorica • Jan 20, 2015 at 11:33 pm
I do not believe that college athletes should be paid. When you are attending college you are there to earn a degree, playing the sport comes second. The degree will last you a life time while the college sport will only last you those four years unless you choose to continue on to play the sport. Being looked at as a D1 recruit for lacrosse myself, I do not think I should be paid in college. I am already receiving money from scholarships, and I’m playing the sport because I love it, not because I want to be paid for it. Even for people that are looking to go D3 where scholarships cannot be handed out for athletics, they are going to the school to pursue an education and playing the sport that they love is just a nice touch.
Erin Newcomer • Nov 21, 2014 at 12:26 pm
I feel that student athletes should not be paid if they get any type of scholarship for going to that school. However, those at smaller schools and lower divisions do not receive any scholarships for continuing their sport. In that situation it would be really nice to have to players get paid because then they get some type of scholarship even if it is really small. I do agree that college coaches in the division one sports make too much and that they should make the same or lower than teachers. The flip side is that when a big football team does well then more people support them and they raise more money. To have a good team they need good coaches and with today’s money issues good coaches are not going to come cheap. I really liked this article and believe it was an interesting topic to read about.
Griffin Neff • Oct 31, 2014 at 12:20 pm
I think that college students shouldn’t get paid, they shouldn’t get paid because they are going there and getting a education while playing sports.
Justin Trolinger • Oct 31, 2014 at 11:00 am
I don’t think athletes should get paid to play because they are already getting some kind of scholarship to play. Also it would cost the school so much more money.
Jack Clark • Oct 31, 2014 at 10:07 am
I completely agree that college athletes should not be paid. Scholarships are a privilege and they should be happy with that. If they are truly good then they will receive what they earn in the major leagues. Great article
Brian Bowser • Oct 31, 2014 at 10:01 am
I think college players should get paid. Great article!
Kyle Cortez • Oct 31, 2014 at 9:17 am
I agree that coaches should not get as much money as they should. Soldiers should receive more money than coaches. I also agree that college athletes should not get paid on what sport they play because they are getting a learning experience of college. A college sport is a choice but the NFL is a job. For jobs you get paid, but hobbies you shouldn’t get paid.
Glenn Jackson • Oct 30, 2014 at 7:53 pm
I believe that college athletes should get paid. The colleges make money off of them and they are not allowed to get any profit from that. I do not believe that is fair to them. They do the same thing professional athletes do and in my opinion they do it better. They train just like them and they play in front of thousands of people just like professional athletes do. If they do the same things that professional athletes do, why are they not getting paid for what they do? The NCAA makes money off of their games, appearances, and jerseys but the players have no entitlement to that money they make off of them. Some players could use that money they could potentially make for school. There is no such thing as a full ride scholarship because scholarships don’t pay for everything in college. They could use that money they make from their play to help them get through school.
Anja Prandtner • Oct 30, 2014 at 1:50 pm
I agree with the fact, that college student should not be paid to do sports. Many of those athletes already might have scholarships which pay for their education and also there are many opportunities to be able to earn money in the college itself. Therefore it is not a necessity to pay college student to do their hobby. If they want to get paid they should advance to the major leagues, but in college you are probably doing a sport, because you enjoy doing activities or it helps you concentrate, but it is not the main factor of your life at that moment. Another reason why I think they should not get paid is, because if you pay them then you should pay all the other kids that compete in chess or go to a math competition or maybe students that work at the library. It wouldn’t be fair to all students.
Mariah Varner • Oct 30, 2014 at 1:40 pm
I also agree that college athletes should not get paid to play in college. When being recruited for a sport a scholarship can be given if you are good enough. Coaches will work with the school and their budgets if they want you that bad. Also I know from experience that beyond a scholarship the coaches can get you a job working for the school to help you as an athlete bring in money. I personally think it would be hard to fund paying athletes because coaches at all divisions are struggling on handing out large amounts of money because they don’t have a lot. In today’s world there is rarely ever a full ride because there is just not enough money to being handing out crazy amounts. The coaches want to evenly to try and support all there athletes.
Madelynne Staley • Oct 30, 2014 at 12:57 pm
I agree that college athletes should not get paid. Many athletes already have an unfair advantage when it comes to scholarships. While student athletes do work hard to receive scholarships, it is much more common and accessible for athletes to get scholarships than for other students to get them for academics or the arts. If athletes want to make money while in college, they should do the jobs other students do during the offseason, such as food service or tutoring. However, I understand where Josh is coming from. The NCAA does make a lot of money off of college athletes. Maybe instead of paying them directly, a portion of the money that the NCAA makes should go back to the colleges, benefitting the education of these athletes.
Jeremy Hafner • Oct 30, 2014 at 12:21 pm
I believe that college athletes should get paid. They work hard and bring the university money. Every person I asked said, “They already get a full, free ride why should they get paid?” You’re looking at college athletes that have scholarships; you’re not looking at the college athletes that do not have scholarships or walk-ons. There are those who do not receive a scholarship because they were beat out by someone who is better than them. They have to pay for college education, food, books, tutors, the list goes on. We all know that college is expensive; we’d be looking for good paying jobs after college just to pay off our debt. Plus the Division 3 level of the NCAA is not allowed to hand out athletic scholarships; the athletes just commit to the school.
Quin Paynter • Oct 30, 2014 at 10:17 am
I personally do not think collegiate athletes should get paid. They are already rewarded for their accomplishments with a free education. They represent their school so the school should be the only thing able to collect the money. If they are good enough to go professional in the sport that they do then they can be rewarded with pay. It always been a precedent that student athletes are not aloud to be paid for sports so it should remain that way. Any student that was rewarded for their accomplishments in sports in any other way other then scholarships was penalized with suspensions and having their trophies or records they earned taken away from them.
Claire Hillison • Oct 29, 2014 at 9:11 pm
I also agree that college athletes should not be paid. They are supposed to be going to college to learn and then play, not the other way around. Full-ride scholarships make perfect sense but any money beyond that could be better spent on educational items.
Chanele Davis • Oct 29, 2014 at 12:51 pm
I agree. College athletes should NOT be getting paid to play. Especially whenever they are receiving full ride scholarships at times. Personally I believe college sports are better than professional ones because the athletes’ motivation is their love for their sport, not the money they are receiving!
Autumn Rowe • Oct 29, 2014 at 12:21 pm
I believe that athletes should not get paid for playing college. They are already getting so much money scholarship wise that for them to get paid is unnecessary when the money could be used for something better. That is just more money that the college would have to be dishing out for so many students.
Bry Youtzy • Oct 29, 2014 at 10:55 am
I don’t think that college athletes should get paid. That takes even more focus off of their school work and more on their athletic ability. This doesn’t help their future. What if they get hurt?
David Sheperd • Oct 28, 2014 at 8:42 pm
No, college athletes get enough of a break as is and some of them even go to college on full ride scholarships. If you ask me, the full ride scholarships should go to those who are in science fair or band members.
Ryan Doody • Oct 28, 2014 at 1:40 pm
It would be great if college athletes didn’t get paid, but they’re sacrificing a ton of their time that could have been spent studying or pursing a more difficult degree (they often major in things that while noble, will not get them a job after they graduate, like African American Studies). These colleges are making millions off these players and still the players can not see any monetary compensation for their hard work aside from a degree. Take march madness for example. some players will miss a months worth of school while the colleges are getting tons of notoriety and money from the tournament. Many football players are not going to the NFL (anyone on Dickinson’s team), and while it would be unfair to pay them more than professors, they should still see some sort of pay.
Kenleigh Peet • Oct 28, 2014 at 1:27 pm
In order to pay student athletes, schools would have to have some sort of disposable income that they are able to throw away on this ridiculous idea. Instead of wasting funds on irrelevant and inconceivable ideas, schools need to focus on the education of their students.
Joshua Winton • Oct 28, 2014 at 11:23 am
I don’t think college athletes should be paid at all. I think they are there to get an education and playing a sport is just a bonus. However, I hate the NCAA. I don’t understand why guys can’t sell their autograph or THEIR OWN PERSONAL JERSEY! This is a huge issue especially when schools are making money off their name by selling replica jerseys and video games. I know that there is no more NCAA football video games, but for a long time there was. The NCAA is making billions of dollars off of these student-athletes; the least they could do is allow them to sell their property.
Daniel Stone • Oct 28, 2014 at 10:59 am
I think college athletes should definitely be paid because they make a lot of the revenue for the school, so they should get some portion of that.
Jared Griffie • Oct 28, 2014 at 10:13 am
I agree with the opinoins in the article
Tarik Ahmetovic • Oct 28, 2014 at 10:07 am
I don’t believe that college students should get paid. If they are truly good at their sport, they will be drafted into their major league. At that point, then they will receive millions upon millions of dollars, from the team and sponsorships. Only in the major leagues should athletes be paid, not in college, or before that.
Rachel Day • Oct 28, 2014 at 9:55 am
I think that college athletes should not be paid. That would only further set them apart from other students. I would like to know more about the argument for paying them. They are already getting a full ride, which is more than everyone else, so instead of being greedy, they should be thankful they don’t have to pay tuition like everybody else.
Nick Cochran • Oct 28, 2014 at 9:43 am
I have to agree with Tyler, college athletes should not be paid. They are students attending the school, not professional athletes in the NFL, NBA, or NHL. Until they are drafted into one of these organizations they are just students playing an extracurricular sport and should therefore not be paid.
Seth Pennebaker • Oct 28, 2014 at 9:33 am
I agree that player’s shouldn’t be paid and that if they were good enough they would be in the NFL. Great article David.
Michaela McQuaig • Oct 27, 2014 at 9:13 pm
I agree with everything that David said and all the other quoted seniors in the article, as well as agreeing that coaches should not be paid more than professors, it just shows what a messed up world it is that educators are paid way less than entertainers. David did a great job with the article, particularly covering both sides of the argument, but like I said, I do have to side with David