Historically, colleges have always compensated college athletes through partial or full athletic scholarships. While these scholarships are helpful to college athletes, it is still believed that college athletes deserve further compensation. College sports help generate large amounts of revenue through ticket sales, media rights, and sponsorship. This revenue generated through sports is incredibly beneficial to colleges, for it allows them to continue to provide degree programs as well as expand and create new programs.
Simply put, the revenue generated through sports helps a college improve and maintain its current faculty. Because college sports have an incredible benefit to colleges, I believe that the athletes who generate this revenue deserve to be better compensated. I believe college athletes should be better compensated by giving them both scholarships and payment for their services.
Many challenges come with being a college athlete. One such challenge is that college athletes must spend a lot of time training for their sports. Athletes often spend two to three hours training daily, creating physical and mental stress for college athletes. Due to the large time commitment college athletes spend practicing, they have reported struggling to maintain a healthy balance between academics, athletics, and their personal lives. “According to the NCAA, it was reported that up to 44% of college athletes reported mental health symptoms daily.” Overall, college sports often take a huge mental toll on college athletes, which can result in anxiety and depression.
College athletes often also struggle physically when competing in sports. A study estimated that 91 percent of college athletes are injured throughout their careers. The same study also concluded that the average college athlete suffered from at least 2 serious injuries throughout their career. It is important to remember that plenty of injuries are not reported by athletes for fear of not being able to participate in their sport, which could result in the loss of their scholarship.
Many athletes experience injury throughout their careers, the severity of which ranges from minor to major injuries. “The NCAA found that 14%-32% of college athletes experience career-ending injuries”. Overall, college athletes are subjected to dangerous conditions and physical strain that they face throughout their college sports careers.
Despite college athletes being given scholarships, many still struggle financially. College athletes often struggle due to the high cost of tuition and receiving limited compensation from scholarships, as well as the cost of housing and supplies. Due to the amount of time college athletes spend training and attending classes, they often find it difficult to raise a liveable income, which only further increases the mental and financial strain.
College Athletes face many struggles through physical, mental, and financial strain. College athletes have long requested to be directly compensated through payment from colleges and universities. “A study showed that around 67% of adults in America support direct compensation from colleges to student-athletes.” Programs have recently been allowing college athletes to make a direct profit from their hard work. The most popular of these programs is (NIL) or the “name, image, and likeness”.
The NIL allows college athletes to profit from their name, image, and likeness through endorsements and commercial activities. While the NIL is a step in the right direction, it is not a true fix to the college athlete compensation problem. Many college athletes have stated that the NIL does not fix the compensation problem because not everyone can get a brand deal, and deals with the NIL can be difficult to achieve.
Overall, many challenges come with being a college athlete. Due to the challenges and minimal compensation that come from being a college athlete, many have feared that college athletes are being exploited. “Some studies have estimated that even with scholarships, around 86% of college athletes are struggling financially.” Because of this continued concern for college athletes, many have pushed for athletes to be compensated with scholarships and payments from colleges and universities. If and when this change of compensation will take place is up for debate, but one thing is for sure: the majority of Americans value our athletes and want college athletes to succeed.
