For many years, there have been several controversial discussions on the topic of college athletes and the scholarship money that they receive. The problem in these discussions is that the main focus is always on the football team. But a new question has arisen that would have an effect on all college athletes no matter what sport they play: should college athletes receive a weekly paycheck on top of their thousands of dollars in scholarships?

I know what you're thinking, "Athletes already receive so much money from their scholarships, so why the hell should we pay them even more money?" Alright, alright you have a point, but I think that it's important to weigh the pros and cons on both sides of the argument.

First of all, we average, untalented folks who have to rely on our brains and academic ability to receive scholarships may not realize this, but athletes don't really have much time to do anything but eat, sleep, train, and go to class. Therefore, they have no time for a job or any way to make money. If they have no time to make money, then they have no money to buy groceries, pay rent, or even have a little fun on the weekends. For student athletes, their sport essentially is their job. However tough and unfair that may seem to some people, we still have to look at the matter from the side that the athletes aren't on and discuss the complications with the idea.

One major concern in this issue would be deciding where to pull the money from. We all know that some schools rely on sports to make money and fund their institution, but other schools that don't have amazing sports teams are lacking that luxury. In most cases, if the athletes were being paid, everyone's tuition would rise and the gap between average students and athletes would only continue to widen.

Though it is not clear what the absolute answer is to this question is, there are a few suggestions. One potential solution is to take some of the money that the athletes are already receiving in the form of scholarships and release it to them throughout the year so that they are receiving payment but are not affecting the other students. Another idea is to give them some sort of stipend to make up for the money they feel that the they should be receiving. Some might say that athletes are already receiving so much money in scholarships that it should make up for what they would be making at some minimum wage job. Either way, it is up to everyone to decide what action should be taken on this issue. So what do you think, should student athletes receive weekly payment on top of scholarship money?