Student athletes are individuals that don’t receive as much credit as they deserve. By spending so much time on a field, or a court there is little time for athletes to excel in their academics. The most proper solution would be to pay the student athlete for their services. According to several studies, student athletes would perform better in school if they were paid. Student athletes deserve to be paid because of the time spent away from class, the time athletes spend on their athletics, and the because of the overhead that must still be paid by the athlete.
The amount of class time missed from an in season student athlete is immense. Missing class once or twice a week could be tolerable, but overtime this will add up. Granted some teachers will give athletes some type of special privilege that always isn’t enough. Missing several days out of an upper level class of a difficult major will leave the student athlete mentally in the dust. They will spend their off time trying to play catch up along with studying plays or routes for their next competition. The NCAA can’t control the amount of time that student puts into their work, but the amount of time that they are absent can be.
As stated, athletes spend majority of their time on their sport of choice. Whether it is an actual practice, work out, or even a film session student athletes have extremely busy schedules. Studies have shown that their sport alone takes up about 40 plus hours out of their week. Although, full ride scholarships are great that alone will not compensate for all which a college student needs. The scholarship doesn’t pay for food, gas or even fun events that college students like to attend. An education is provided, but being able to perform at your best at all times can somewhat be impossible for no pay.
Outside of school and athletics student athletes are still students. The time taken out of their week for athletics makes it impossible for them to have a job. Athletes cannot just rely on their parents for funding because that will not be enough. Athletes should get paid to spend their time and risk their lives for the physical activity that they are putting their bodies through. If they are to get injured are still apart of the team and must still support their team’s endeavors.
All in all, it is very difficult to be a student athlete. So much of their time is restricted for their sport. As stated, the sport that the athlete partakes in should count as a job at least while in season. This act would take away stress that is caused by an athlete in terms of trying to figure out how to get money. This would also keep athletes from trying to get money in an illegal way. In the end, if student athletes were to receive money for their work it would not only be better for the athlete, but also the team and coaches as well.
