Should College Athletes Get Paid?

This topic has been questioned and debated for a long time. On the first of October, 2019, California signed a law allowing college athletes to get paid, or accept endorsements. Accepting endorsements means they get to accept money when companies use their names or images. This law won’t be set in stone until 2023, which allows time for legal challenges. This law goes directly against the NCAA, which oversees the entirety of college athletics. Other states are inspired to create a similar law. Arguments for both sides are solid.

Asking Addie Grinnell should college athletes get paid she replied, “No, because they’re already getting a scholarship, they already have so many other things like tutors and getting into games for free, they don’t need as complicated of a major because if they are playing at a D1 college, then their main goal is probably to go to professional leagues. professional players get paid a lot also so they don’t need it in college. Also, if you are paid for being an athlete, you are considered a professional athlete, and if you aren’t, you’re considered ameture, and that means if you paid college athletes, they would be considered professional athletes before actually being on a professional team.”

This argument is a popular one for people who don’t support this law, especially the difference between ameture and pro. Since the biggest difference between ameture sports and professional sports is that professional sports players get paid, paying college athletes pretty much is telling them that they are already a professional athlete. It could also defeat the drive that college athletes have to make it to professional leagues. What drives most people is money, so to give college athletes the opportunity to already make that money may weaken their drive to go professional.

Asking Cayla Frazer the same question she answered, “No, because they’re getting a bunch of stuff through the program. They don’t need anymore.”

Giovanni Benitez disagrees. “Yes, they should get paid because as long as it is not affecting the college it doesn’t matter what they do, because it doesn’t affect the college and the players worked hard to get into the college.”

Emily Vallejos added, “Yes, but it depends on the person. Let’s say if one athlete has good insurance, a good job, and just overall has enough money to pay for costly things, should definitely have no problem paying for their own injuries. But then a different athlete, who doesn’t have insurance, a low-paying job, and struggles to pay many things, should generally have a college pay for their injuries if they are unable to.”

Ty Smith believes they should be compensated.  “If they get signed with a magazine, so they can get a small amount of money for it and get a contract.”

Hamza Harooni agrees with some sort of compensation for their work.  “Yes, because they work hard and train really hard and they deserve it, they should accept endorsements and brand deals.”

Camille Garrett disagrees, saying college athletes should not get paid,  “because they are there on a scholarship.”

What do you think, should college athletes get paid?