Well since it's a hot topic on sports talk radio, I wondered what the thoughts of the ever-enlightened HBH bunch may be. Now let's take into consideration these guys/gals are given FREE education, at a value upwards of $100,000 in many cases with the free room and board included, therefore they're not going to have to pay the $700/month for the next 20yrs like a lot of college students who weren't blessed with their athletic prowess. So what do you think, on top of the free tuition, room, and board, should student athletes be paid also....???? I personally think the FREE EDUCATION is payment enough. So that's my vote.
Yes, I think they should. How or what amount, I'm not sure. The free education thing does really fly these days. Many of the top players in the country are not going to college to get an education. They are going for work training. I wouldn't work for Miller Lite if they were offering to pay me with their watered down, poor tasting beer. To some, that might be the greatest job in the world. The education has no value to some of these kids. Figure out a way to pay them something, or at least allow them to take gifts of a certain kind. I think eliminates some of the problems. Not all of them, but a good amount of these issues will be reduced.
We disagree again! Student athletes are not able to have jobs like regular students. Kids on full ride academic scholarships can have jobs.... I think something small such as $75-100 a week while they are on campus is fair.
No they should not be paid. I understand that there is a TON of money being made off some college athletes, but that is a tiny fraction (below 1%). Once you start paying college athletes it will change all college sports forever and in ways never imagined. Some colleges are making millions on athletes that are flat broke, but guess what? That's part of college. Most of my friends in college were broke all the time. My parents didn't pay a dime of my room, board, or tuition, and 13 years later I am slowly paying off my loans. Forget $100,000, cost for out-of-state at major universities is closer to $50,000/year.
How much money did the college make off your friends as a result of their talents? How much money, cars, gifts, etc did your friends have to turn down while in college? Were your friends allowed to work?
They should all get some type of monthly stipend. Like Buckeye said, scholarship athletes cannot get regular jobs. Sure they get free tuition, meal plan, and room & board, but that still does not pay the extras. They need something. I should know, because I got free tuition, meal plan, and room & board from scholarships, but I still had to work summers to make enough money for gas, snacks, cell phone, insurance, etc. I would usually make about $8k during the summer, and that lasted me 9 months. Barely. But I made it work.
This is not the college's issue, they are given a full ride and if they choose not to take it, it's not the college issue. They do receive a stipend now I believe, does anyone know how much? When I went to college I had a job, but know many. I would traded it in a heart beat to play sports and go to college. These guys just do not know how lucky they are to have the talent to play big time college football.
I wouldn't be against them making some moderate amount of money so that they can have a few bucks in their pockets, as long as there were some sort of cap on it. Otherwise to be competitive with the next college, it would balloon into absorbent amounts of money. That money has to come from somewhere.
I don't think its the same though, Germ. Not saying you're old, but things are a lot different now. There was a time when many athletes, even some of the top ones, valued the free education. I don't think thats the case as much now. Remember, colleges don't want these kids so they can boost their GPA. They want these kids to play sports. To me, that separates them from the education part. They are given "athletic" scholarships, not "academic". Times are a changing.
Here is the tricky part. Are football player stipends more than the swim team's stipend? Or are all equal?
One step further Denard Robison makes the school more money then Hangrum our punter, what's his cut. Honestly is it that hard to play college football, go to school, get treated like movie stars and get all the strange you want for four years?
Sounds great But they still need to pay for cell phone, gas, car note, insurance, bastard babies, etc. Strange only gets you so far.
And Matt, therein lies the problem!!! If they aren't valuing the education they are getting, then they have no business at the college!!! I wonder, just for kicks how many of you think they SHOULD get $$$ went to college and had student loans. I know I personally didn't because I went to school on a scholarship as well, but I also know enough people who wonder why the hell they ever went to school when they realize how much $$$ it cost them and how little it's really benefited them. And I know there are some of them who CAN have jobs, I worked with a couple guys who played college football who worked with us from late May until the end of July, and after football season was over, they had some opportunity again as well. Also for those who don't know, there are PELL GRANTS that are available to MANY of these kids if they really need spending money, and they can likewise get COLA (Cost of Living Allowance) loans while in school that can be deferred until they are out of school for one year..... With that in mind..... Do they really need another $3000 handed to them a year from the school that has already gifted them an easy $100,000 (or more) in scholarships???? Lets keep in mind that a $100,000 loan at 5% interest would cost $790/month for 15yrs!!! or $659/month for 20yrs!!!! or $536/month for 30yrs!!! Ain't that enough???
Ahh, but thats the tricky part. Movie stars get preferential treatment and free stuff all the time. Asking 18-22 yo kids to turn that stuff down can be tough. Especially, when some of these kids never had much. Like I said, I don't know what should be done exactly. No matter what is done, there are still going to be some rules broken. I think they can do something to reduce the amount of rule breaking that is currently happening.
I wish I lived in a world as simple as you. Do you know how much money the universities are making off some of these athletes? Why shouldn't they be entitled to some of the money when the universities are making millions off of their name and likeness?
