RE: Should college athletes be paid?

When considering whether college athletes should be paid or not, we need to consider how much money the institution makes off of athletics. The first sport that everyone believes is making a school a ton of money, is college football. Not only that, but many believe that the cost of a college athlete stops at tuition, books, room and board and food. However, according to the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, the average amount of money spent on a collegiate football player is just over 91,000 dollars. Compare this to the same organizations' figure of just over 13,000 per other collegiate athlete a year (Peale, 2013). According to University of Cincinnati's athletic budget for 2012-2013, University of Cincinnati students and the cities tax payers are making up 8.5 of the 10 million dollar athletics budget.
Personally, I find this unacceptable, tax payers paying for large chunks of athletic budgets? Paying for robust stadiums in collegiate and professional athletes? Tax payers are paying for collegiate athletics while our country's infrastructure crumbles, citizens live in poverty and most of all, student debt climbs higher and higher. These are just a short list of financial needs that I believe should be addressed before we keep contributing to the athletics arms race. To summarize my attitudes quite appropriately, "It's very alarming to see how intercollegiate athletics is distorting expenditures and value in higher education," the Knight Commission's Kirwan said. "It has so much potential for good, but I think we're on a trajectory now that in my opinion is doing more harm than good" (Peale, 2013). 
To be frank, we don't have the money to invest in college athletes. There will need to be reform in higher education spending soon and I believe that athletics will be one of the first programs to go. This isn't related to athletics, but is related to budgetary issues in higher education. Think about the issues surrounding us as higher ed professionals when viewing this video. 

Although the college athletes are going to be paid a minimal amount on top of their scholarships (of course, the NCAA is fighting it)

In my final thought about the paying of collegiate athletes, I do think that student athletes should be paid for sales of t-shirts, jerseys, video games and other memorabilia that is directly related to their team success or an athletes success. I also think donors should be allowed to donate money towards a specific team. If a donor wants to help the quality of living for an athlete, they should be allowed to donate to a certain pool and that pool be distributed to the athlete. Of course, ideas like those proposed above require some rule changes and less control from the NCAA, which means these ideas may be a long shot. I don't believe the cure of the issues comes from a crowd of people saying "we need to pay the athletes". I think we need reform in education, legislature in education and athletics in legislature.

REFERENCES

Athletics cost colleges, students millions. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/09/15/athletics-cost-colleges-students-millions/2814455/

College athletes are about to get paid, and the NCAA is fighting it. (n.d.). Retrieved September 20, 2015, from http://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2015/7/28/9051317/ncaa-paying-college-athletes-obannon-case-injunction

LastWeekTonight (2014, September 7). Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Student Debt (HBO)

        Retrieved from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8pjd1QEA0c