College Athletes Argumentative Essay

What most people don’t is that not all athletes get the full-ride scholarships that people think of. Most collegiate sports don’t even offer full-ride scholarships; instead they have a set amount of money that they can do whatever to give scholarships. According to a U.S. News article, “The average athletic scholarship is about $10,400. Only four sports offer full rides to all athletes who receive scholarships: football, men’s and women’s basketball, and women’s volleyball” (O'Shaughnessy). Just to put this into perspective, there are twenty-four total college sports, and only these 4 offer full scholarships. This showcases the rarity of a full-ride in college athletes. Looking into it even more, most of those college athletes come from low income families, “86 percent of college athletes come from below the poverty line” (Hayes 1). A college athlete's schedule is also very hectic. In an article showing the schedule of a football player, it lists, “6am-7am: Wake up,

isn 't real necessary. Considering they no longer have to pay tuition and continue to pursue their childhood dream as a professional athlete. Some athletes do not even have a dream to be a professional athlete. Some student athletes have other aspirations; like being a Lawyer, Police Officer, Doctor, Nurse, Veterinarian, or even a fire fighter. So they use there god given talent as a entrance and walk way through

Collegiate athletics is a multibillion dollar business. Competition across basketball, football, and other popular sports generate just as much money as they do excitement and entertainment to sports fans and the casual viewer. The driving force behind this behemoth are the athletes that don the uniform of the competing universities. These athletes, the most of which are black, dedicated time synonymous to working a full time job on top of being student in order to serve this money machine. What is so damning about this system then? The truth is that the student-athletes do not see a penny of the millions they earn for their schools. On top of that, they are stretched beyond reasonable means in order to serve their athletic program. In return, they are compensated with scholarships to attend the college. However, what might seem like a coveted opportunity is not what it seems.

Now, paying these athletes doesn’t have to be for everyone. Only the high caliber, D1 athletes. The D1 athletes put in all this time and effort to get a scholarship, but don’t see any money. Now that’s not right. These D1 caliber players don’t come around all the time. There are not many of them. Plus the schools that do have these players are super rich. “These teams not only provide their supporters with a steady source of entertainment, but their performance also helps bring notoriety and pride to the universities they represent. College athletics, especially the so-called "revenue sports" of men 's basketball and football, is now a multi-million dollar business that is marketed, packaged, and sold in the same manner as other commercial products” (Acain).

The NCAA is focused on education as it states, but when athletes are struggling to survive, and in some cases, going to bed starving, one has to wonder how focused the NCAA truly is on the student and his or her education. With all of the money generated through the college athletes in the performance of their respective sport, it would make sense that these

Unmistakably, college football players endure many hardships and make many sacrifices in order to attain the skill set required compete at the highest levels of college football. Only through many hours of focused training can an athlete build the necessary tools to be offered a scholarship by a Division

Many believe that paying college athletes is wrong because they are amateurs, or students first and athletes second. With tuition continuing to raise the average athletic scholarships aren’t covering the costs anymore. There is a misconception that most college athletes on athletic scholarships are getting everything paid for, in reality that’s actually false. For example, a Division I basketball team is granted thirteen scholarships each year. Of those thirteen scholarships the University is allowed to split them up however they feel. These scholarships are for incoming students from high school and returning student athletes that had their scholarship picked up for another year. According to author Mark Kantrowitz, less than 20,000 students a year receive an entirely free ride to college (O’Shaughnessy, 2011). That number is students total, not student athletes, that is a very small number when you see that there were 453,347 NCAA student athletes in 2012-13 (Brown, 2013).

For many students, the college experience is measured by the success of their NCAA-sanctioned athletic programs. Without the experience and athletic performance the student athlete brings, most colleges would not reap the benefit of these significant revenue-generating activities. At best, current NCAA regulations need to be revisited to ensure all avenues are addressed to enable the success of athletic students both in the classroom and on the field or court of play. As stated previously, even though students receive full and partial scholarships determined by their athletic performance, in both instances

After all, these athletes are attending their respected school on a scholarship because of their talent, but what happens when that talent can no longer be used? What happens when an athlete is no longer able to share their talent due to an injury or other medical condition? In such circumstances where an athlete is no longer able to play due to a career ending injury, the individual loses their scholarship. Now, not only will the individual have to pay for a surgery, but also the rest of their tuition. According to an article in The New Yorker “Why NCAA athletes shouldn’t be paid” written by Ekow N. Yankah,"The athletes in major football and men’s basketball programs are disproportionately black, many from poor and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds”

Otherwise, they would be stuck paying for the tuition without scholarships. They should realize that they have an advantage that most others do not have. If you think of it, each student athlete has a scholarship that can save them $200,000 for four years.

In the recent years, there have been lawsuits after lawsuits filed against the NFL, after more and more retired football players have been diagnosed with brain damage resulting from concussions during their career.

Student athletes commonly go to school for one reason: their love for the sport they participate in. These student athletes get scholarships from large Division 1 schools, which means things such as schooling, board, and food will be paid for by the school so the student athletes do not have to pay for these benefits themselves (Patterson). If college athletes are to be paid, it will cause unfair compensation between players who are valued or played more than others. When student athletes are rewarded with a scholarship, they have nothing school related that they would need to pay for. This can lead them to blow all of their income on unnecessary or dangerous things such as drugs and alcohol which could get them removed from the team they

In my opinion, all football programs should have Athletic scholarships regardless of division. They all are considered NCAA athletes and all abide by the same rules and regulations. Football is one of America’s favorite pass times and through this sport many athletes have been able to attend Colleges and Universities, all over The United States, for free. Although there are currently 72,788 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football players, only the few that have the opportunity to play Division 1 football are eligible to receive these full athletic scholarships also known as “full rides”. Division 2 is an assortment of more than 300 NCAA colleges and universities that provide thousands of student-athletes the opportunity to compete at a high level of scholarship athletics. Some Division 2 schools also give their athletes full scholarships but these cases are rare, instead, they give partial athletic scholarships to help lighten the load. Athletes that play Division 3 football are often seen as playing “For the love of the game” or “Love of completion” and receive no sort of athletic scholarship for playing a college sport. Players that decide to take the Junior College or JUCO route are playing, more times than not, to attract the attention of Division 1 coaches in order to seize the opportunity of attending college for free. The differences among the divisions emerge primarily in how schools choose to fund their athletics programs.

There has been amplified debate on the treatment, education, training of the college athlete. To avoid exploitation of athletes, “The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), formed in 1905, set bylaws requiring college student-athletes to be amateurs in order to be eligible for intercollegiate athletics competition” (Schneider n.p.). Intercollegiate athletics have dramatically changed over the last several decades. Currently, intercollegiate athletics generate tremendous amounts of revenue, remarkably in football and basketball. College sports in America is a

College Athletics. College sports are huge to a college’s students. It gives them pride and a reason why they want to be at that college. Nothing will start a debate like talking about your Alma mater’s athletics. Who’s got the best football team? What about the basketball? How about who gets the best recruits? Athletics at the collegiate level went from clubs playing at each other to a billion dollar business. That is just one example of change in college sports. College athletics have changed over time from the number of sports, money dedicated to sports, and how women’s athletics has improved.