UNC-Chapel Hill’s reputation suffered another blow Wednesday, when an investigation revealed that the university’s Department of African and Afro-American Studies had given students credit for attending fake classes. Such courses had padded students’ GPAs for almost 20 years and allowed them to get UNC-CH degrees they had not completely earned.

This investigation is only part of a series surrounding the 2011 scandal, according to The New York Times. Until this report, UNC-CH had not acknowledged that student athletes had been reaping significant rewards from the fake courses. The report maintained that more than 3,100 students, 47.6 percent of them student athletes, received credit by submitting a single and often plagiarized paper and never actually meeting with the professor or other classmates. Deborah Crowder, a nonacademic administrator, was responsible for creating these classes and grading the papers with A’s and B’s after a cursory glance, according to The New York Times. 

This scandal is just one of many involving college athletes in recent years. In 2011, Taylor Branch, a Pulitzer-prize winner, wrote a article in The Atlantic about how the NCAA and universities deny athletes’ their civil rights and forces them to generate revenue without paying them a penny. The root of all these scandals can be attributed to the structures of NCAA and the institutions that support college sports. 

College athletics are deeply rooted in the spirit of Mens sana in corpore sano—a sound mind in a sound body. There is nothing wrong with colleges’ encouraging sports as a way to strengthen the body as well as the mind or encourage teamwork. But, perhaps, the pattern of today’s college sports has become too commercialized and competitive. 

The popularity of college sports has become an objective for corporations that always seek the highest return for their investments. But inserting advertisements or providing sponsorships are normal tactics in a market economy. Many corporations, such as Nike and Pepsi had business deals with national leagues such as the NFL and NBA. Even still, these leagues are not as corrupt as college sports because they follow corporate agreements regarding sponsorship regulations.

The NCAA is much different from professional leagues. According to its own regulation, college athletes should not receive any monetary compensation for playing sports for their school. However, most college athletic programs provide tuition waivers, stipends for textbooks or grants for other living expenses instead. The costs that the school absorbs are a tiny fraction compared to the millions of dollars that college athletes will generate for their schools. Such a gap between these athletes’ market prices and actual payoff would cause them to accept money from a third party via sponsorships, if it was not prohibited by NCAA. 

Student athletes are more than just cash cows for the NCAA and college campuses. They are part of the future and need to benefit from a quality education. 

As students, college athletes are also constrained by academic rules and integrity. The NCAA requires student athletes to be full-time students, as well as retain a 1.8 to 2.0 GPA, depending on how many credit hours they have taken. However, balancing studies with the demands of training, practice and attending games can make even these GPA levels difficult to maintain. 

Even without the fake classes in UNC-CH’s case, college athletes tend to select less difficult classes with few assignments, lowering the quality of education they receive. Students should not have to choose between playing sports and truly learning in their college-level courses. Professors could consider giving athletes extensions to complete college curriculum, but apply the same academic standards on them. 

If students are going to risk a quality education by playing for their school, they should be paid according to their market values. In July, the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a public hearing entitled, “Promoting the Well-Being and Academic Success of College Athletes,” in the hope of pushing the NCAA to change. 

Although college athletes’ career paths often pertain to sports, they should receive the same quality of education as other students. Athletes will not play forever and need other employable skills and a general education. UNC Chapel Hill, as well as all other academic institutions, need to teach athletes to fish rather than simply handing out A’s.