Early this morning, the NCAA proposed the idea of allowing student-athletes to receive an additional $2000 stipend for living expenses on top of the scholarships that they already earn. However, the National College Players Association wishes to receive $1200 more per student-athlete before all is done. Is this the end of the Pay for Play argument?
In this proposal, universities are now allowed to chose the term limit for their scholarships. This will help student-athletes know exactly how long they are allowed to receive financial aid to stay in school. At the same time, universities are not allowed to digress away from their scholarship term for each individual student-athlete. This ultimately allows the student-athlete more power.
This poses a HUGE problem for lower-level schools who can barely afford scholarships already. I believe that this will create a huge gap between the Elite and non-Elite colleges. This plan is perfect for the elite programs who can afford the ability to pay college athletes and not get into future trouble (see Ohio State and Auburn). This will be the first plan by the NCAA to allow actual payments to players.
The debate for paying players has increased over the last few years. However, the idea to pay players is not justified by the amount of revenue that teams bring in. Only 15 teams in all of NCAA football make a profit. Also, student-athletes receive an undergraduate degree that increases their lifetime salary by ONE MILLION DOLLARS. Research shows that a high school diploma will earn an individual $1.2 Million on average in their lifetime while an individual with a college degree makes $2.1 million on average.
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