For some time now, people have been debating over whether or not college athletes shouldn’t be paid. Personally, they shouldn’t be paid for pretty obvious reasons.

The main reason why athletes don’t deserve to be paid is because it’s simply not the colleges’ duty to do so. Colleges are primarily used to better your education, not kick start your athletic career. Besides, there are already some benefits to being a student athlete on campus. For example, by getting college degrees, students can get offered job market opportunities that they normally wouldn’t have.

By paying a student athlete more than just the scholarship, it takes away the competitive element of sports. According to Pay to Play: Should College Athletes Be Paid, developing such an economy in the athletic department “would result in a monetary race to buy the best athletes in the country.” Top colleges would get the superstar athletes, while most colleges get the “rejects.”

Instead of rooting for a variety different teams, there would only be a few that people would want to watch. With fewer people wanting to watch these games, the colleges will result in a loss of revenue. So would a college really want to lose more money just by paying students to play a sport?

Lastly, paying for student athletes can affect the students’ college decision-making process. In the past, students would make decisions based off of how successful they will be at that school. Now, these athletes will base their decisions off of how much each college pays. Rather than focusing on the schoolwork aspect of college, they will compare colleges and see who pays their athletes the highest.

An important question to ponder is what will a college athlete really spend their money on? According to College Athletes Should Not Be Paid, “And trust me on this, you give a bunch of teenage, wannabe professional athletes a stipend and a significant portion of that money will be going directly to the local “pharmacist” for steroids and marijuana, another good chunk will get guzzled down a beer bong and the rest will be a down payment on a platinum necklace.” Teenagers already spend their money poorly. By giving them more, this just guides them in a worse direction.

Some can make the argument that a full scholarship doesn’t totally cover the cost of living on campus. Athletes still have the opportunity to take out loans like every other student.

Universities can also help finance their students’ educations. Beginning in 1985, the National Consortium for Academics and Sports aids students by finishing their degrees at no cost. On the flip side, students still had to participate in 10 hours of community service. This allows the athletes to help out the community and have all their costs paid off.

Colleges should not pay their athletes at the expense of hosting entertaining games. The colleges will be wasting their money and “Cinderella teams” will be a thing of the past, making sports less fun to watch. If it would negatively affect the thrill of the sport, why bother paying the athletes then?