Attending college is a very difficult and challenging thing to do and there are the few people out there that can play sports on top of going to school. College athletes put a full-time job into school and a full-time job into playing whatever sport they are competing in. The seasons are months long and the offseason is the entire time they aren’t playing games. Playing college sports at any division or school is a challenge and many people believe that they should be paid to do so.

The average athlete that gets a scholarship, is around 11,000 dollars. With that said, only 2% of all the athletes from high school will earn this amount of money. When considering the fact that college athletes don’t have the time to be working, the 11,000 dollars is the only income they get, unless the kid’s parents are giving them money.

The amount of money that the schools make from the sports games is crazy too. Over 20 universities around the nation pull in a revenue of over $100 million, and 44% of the universities make over $20 million. With this kind of money being pulled in from the athletes themselves, why wouldn’t they be paid?

However, money could take away what college sports are meant to do. College sports brings out the most competitive side of athletes and makes them compete for a chance to move to the next level or compete because it’s the last time they will ever play.
Despite all of this data, college athletes should not be paid for their time at school. College sports take the competitive spirit much higher than professional sports do. In ways, professionals don’t have any reasons to be playing anymore. They made the money, they made it to the top, and it’s over. College athletes don’t have that.

Giving the athletes money would change how they play and look at the game. It could possibly ruin college sports. Without money, athletes have to work to get there, they have to work to get the full ride scholarship, they have to work to move on, and with money just being given to them, it wouldn’t be the same.