FREE ESSAY ON PAYING ATHLETES

PAYING ATHLETES

As you sit at the stadium or in your home and watch college football, basketball, or even
baseball, do you ever wonder where the money goes from all the ticket sales? Colleges
make a lot of money from their athletics. I feel that the profit that is made should
partly go back to the student athlete. College athletes should be paid for their
participation in sports, since sports make a lot of money for the college.
A student athlete's schedule is very hectic. There are many activities that have to be
attended daily. A student athlete is expected to go to class every day; and later in the
day they are expected to meet at practice, no matter what the sport. After practice, the
student athlete must eat dinner. Then the person has to go home to their dorm to do
homework, which can last for hours. There is very little time during the day, to allow
the student athlete to get a job. Most of the time coaches will not allow the students to
work, due to schedule conflict, and it is also hard on the student's studies. If the
coach doesn't allow a job and there is no time for one, where does the student get
money?
Student finances are very limited. Most of the money that students have is from parents
or student loans. Students need money for food, gas and laundry. If a student eats three
meals a day, it would usually cost then about fifteen dollars. For a five-day week it
would be around seventy-five dollars. Usually the student athletes do not travel much, so
gas expenses would be minimal. However there are those occasional trips home to see
family. The student also needs money for laundry. Laundry runs around five or six dollars
per week. Several years ago, student athletes at colleges and universities were given
laundry money, which was twenty-five to thirty dollars a week. The money could be spent
freely. It was like an allowance that your parents would give you every week. I feel that
this little support would at least help the student when money is hard to come by at
home. With the financial help of the college a student athlete parents would only have to
supply around fifty or sixty dollars per week instead of eighty or ninety dollars. A
student would have less financial troubles if they were compensated for athletics. If
athletes were paid they could have a better start out of college. For instance if the
student athlete has to get a loan during college because he or she has no money for
necessities, that student athlete has started to dig a financial hole. That hole will be
a burden to the student athlete when her or she graduates from college. Also the student
athletes parents will not be financially troubled when the student graduates from
college. It would make it easier on student athletes and their parents mentally and
physically if student athletes were paid. Mentally the parents would not have to worry
about paying the bills when tuition is due. Physically the parents and students would not
have to break their back to work overtime, or to have a job while in school, and play
athletics as well. 
I feel that student athletes have a lot to worry about. One is their grades; two is there
performance in games. I feel the last thing a student athlete should worry about is how
they are going to make money to pay for the education, since the student plays a sport
that makes money for the college. Student athletes should be compensated for their
participation in athletics while attending college.