“With March Madness coming to an end, the debate regarding whether college athletes should be paid has inevitably been provoked once more. Kantar Media reported that the TV ads for last year’s NCAA men’s college basketball tournament generated more than $1 billion in revenue, exceeding the total revenue for the NFL postseason. In the 2012 post-season, the NFL generated $976 million in ad revenue, the NBA playoffs made $536 million, Major League Baseball’s playoffs and World Series pulled in $354 million and the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs collected $101 million. These numbers provide a compelling argument that student athletes deserve some form of payment for the service they provide for their schools.

However, the people arguing that student athletes should be paid seem to be unaware of the fact that athletes are already being subsidized. Those receiving athletic scholarships are effectively being paid due to the free tuition, room, meal plans and money for books and miscellaneous expenses that they receive. In addition to these benefits, athletes also receive academic counseling, tutoring, life skill training and even nutritional advice. Not to mention the free professional coaching, strength and fitness training, and support from athletic trainers and physical therapists that athletes are provided with in a plentiful amount. 

As a student athlete, I can appreciate how easy it is to take for granted the services that are accessible to us in such high quantities in return for our extensive commitment of time and energy to our sport. However, the athlete population must remember that when signing a letter of intent, we received our payment and an education is priceless.

Not only are athletes compensated enough as it is, but paying athletes is highly impractical. Athletic programs function similarly to health insurance as the healthy subsidize the treatment of the sick. The sports, primarily football and men’s basketball, that produce money from merchandise, ticket sales and television rights, subsidize everything else. If pay-for-play regulations are put in to place, there will be no opportunities remaining for the money-losing sports, such as tennis, to be continued. 

Then there are the structural technicalities that would inevitably occur in the process of compensating student athletes. It raises several questions: Do star players that attract more publicity, and therefore generate more money for the school, receive a higher salary? Do injured players receive compensation? Who determines these answers?

There are too many predicaments with the pay-for-play notion, and the bottom line is student athletes don’t need a salary. Instead of tempting them with proposals of money, institutions need to do a better job of encouraging them to finish their degrees and utilize the educational opportunities in front of them.

This lack of educational encouragement could not be more evident than in the most recent UNC-Chapel Hill scandal to hit the headlines regarding fake paper-writing classes. A whistleblower at the UNC-CH revealed a typo-riddled, 146-word term paper that earned a football player an A- in a bogus course meant to boost his GPA and keep him eligible for sports. This appalling revelation is becoming all too familiar in the world of college athletics.

However, there are exceptions when considering the story of Matt Elam, a former University of Florida football player. After earning a seven-figure salary in the NFL, Elam returned to Gainesville during the offseason to continue his degree. In addition to this, he took a low-paying job at a sporting goods store to gain a superior understanding inside the business he wants to pursue following his NFL career. Elam, unlike many of his NFL peers, seems to acknowledge the fact that his football career could be very short, and he needs a college education to succeed in the business world.

Athletic careers amount to a small portion of an athlete’s life and can be full of unpredictability. If people recognize the good influence of Matt Elams, maybe thousands of other student athletes will stay in school and earn degrees to equip themselves with the tools to succeed both on and off the field.

Money is only temporary, but an education is for a lifetime.