College Athletes are Not the Same as Professional Athletes

College athletes have big shoes to fill when they are playing a college sport and staying on top of their schoolwork game. Although this is a lot for them to handle, college athletes should not be paid for their sport due to the fact that the NCAA is preparing college athletes for professional sports and paying them would disrupt the whole idea of college athletics which is also known as amateurism. Paying college athletes would heavily cost the University since they already have many expenses to pay for such as paychecks to staff, and facility uses, and even just maintaining the campus. If the NCAA were to pay college athletes, it would make college more expensive than it already is since they would have to pay for about 56% of male student athletes and about 44% of female athletes worldwide, that would be a very big increase in the cost for college. 

Some people may argue that college athletes deserve a paycheck for all their hard work but in reality, the only way that they could earn a paycheck in sports is with a contract. According to the NCCA, with a contract, the student athlete has to play for the same college for a certain amount of time and it could “lead to a student not being able to leave or graduate from college due to a contract”. This would have the student athlete fall behind in their future life after college. People also may say that it’s a good thing for the student athletes to have exposure and it is a good thing but exposure should be saved for professional athleticism. The NCAA believes that “exposure can be a distraction and have them lose concentration on the game” and athletes need to be completely focused on the game. 

In essence, the NCAA should not pay college athletes since it is very expensive and it is a better solution for the college athletes to stay on scholarships. The students are basically being paid by having scholarships since they “get to use the best facilities and have free health insurance for injuries” says the NCAA.  If they were to get a salary, recruiting wouldn’t exist anymore and most people feel great when a recruiter comes to them and if this went away, it could definitely have an effect on the student’s self-confidence. Plus, college is meant for education and not just athletics, these student athletes are student-athletes which means education comes first, no matter what the situation or sport they play. People need to understand that going to college is for the education and not getting paid for an extracurricular activity since athletics are not their whole life, like professional athletes.