Millions and millions of people watch college sports each year, which generates a substantial amount of money for the colleges. This money can then be used in many ways for a variety of programs at these colleges. The only individuals who are not benefiting from this additional revenue are the actual athletes working hard on the field or court.

College athletes invest at least 40 hours a week into the practice and training for their sport, making it comparable to a full-time job. If you were committing to an effort that takes up 40 hours of your time per week, wouldn’t you want to be paid?

Taking on a “full-time job” on top of already being a full-time student leaves very little time for studying or any of the other social aspects of college, like clubs and community connections.

It’s very likely that these athletes have plans for their future that do not involve continuing with their sport in a professional capacity, so the lack of time for schoolwork during college can significantly affect their futures.

Also, with athletics comes injury. Everyone knows how expensive medical care can be, so when a college athlete, who is most likely already drowning in student loan debt, gets injured, the aftermath can be truly crippling.

College athletics is a multi-billion dollar industry, with revenue generated not only through event viewership but also through merchandise and sponsorships. It allows colleges to increase their recognition, and they can team-up with cable companies and athletic brands, which results in multi-million dollar partnerships. They use athletes’ images to boost revenue and sell clothing, and if these athletes are helping benefit their colleges’ bottom lines, they should be compensated accordingly.

The salaries of most college coaches are also ridiculously high. Given that they are the coaches, they do deserve pay, but that amount is disproportionate when compared with the work the players are contributing for zero dollars. That amount of money can be significantly lowered, with the difference being distributed evenly among the players; the players are the only reason the coaches even have  jobs and salaries in the first place.

The amount of work and time invested by college athletes is deserving of a salary as well. These sports are some of the biggest money-makers for certain colleges, and the players sacrifice much of their own education and personal lives by giving their all to the sport. I truly believe that such effort and commitment put in by the athletes is deserving of compensation.

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?