1. Compensation for College Athletes Cory Chavera Arizona State University

2. The Purpose for the Research Within the past few decades, college athletics have gained an enormous amount of popularity throughout the United States. Whether it be baseball, football, or basketball, intercollegiate sports have drawn an immense amount of popularity and revenue for their participating Universities. College Athletes sacrifice so much in order to represent their university and should in fact be compensated more than what their scholarship offers for the services that they provide.

3. Reasons for Compensation Full Scholarship coverage Illegal Black Market sponsored by boosters No Incentive to stay and finish their degree

4. The NOT So Full-Scholarship A common misconception that many individuals have is what an athletic full-scholarship actually consists of. According to the NCAA, “Full athletic scholarships cover tuition, room and board, and course related books” This doesn’t cover groceries, gas money, supplies for school, and and other miscellaneous expenses every other college student usually has to be responsible for.

5. The NOT So Full-Scholarship In Kelly Holland’s article, “Athletic Scholarship Costs Don’t Always Add Up”, she states that, “the average amount of money awarded to NCAA Division I athletes were $13,821for men and $14,660 for women” (Holland, 2008). The players of these teams are valued at millions of dollars, yet what they receive from their scholarships are.01% of their estimated values.

6. The Dark Side of College Athletics As a college athlete, he or she is not permitted to receive any type of payment for their contributions to the school. In these black markets, boosters that represent the university will give these players spending money, cars, fancy clothes, and in return the players will play for their respective university.

7. The Dark Side of College Athletics There have been multiple instances of this undergoing before, but a notable example is that of Reggie Bush, the running back for the University of Southern California from 2003-2005. In an article published by ESPN (2007), “A sports marketer will give NCAA investigators financial records and other evidence linking Reggie Bush and his family to nearly $280,000 in benefits while he was enrolled at USC” (N/A,2007).

8. Dropouts Become Millionaires In order to enter the NFL Draft and be an eligible prospect, a player must play for his college team for at least two years. Once those two years are complete, he has the decision to declare for the draft. Mark Nagel (2015) says it best in the article, “A Long Shot”, “college athletes coming from low-income communities and locations where athletics is seen by some talented players as one of the few viable routes to a better life” (New, 2015).

9. Dropouts Become Millionaires The lavish lifestyle attracts them and draws their focus away from the one reason they went to college in the first place. If these players were compensated an increased amount of players will finish their college careers and graduate before pursuing their childhood dreams of playing on the biggest stage. Retired professional athletes due to injury are often unable to find a career due to lack of a degree.

10. Conclusion The growth of intercollegiate athletics has resulted into enormous amounts of revenue not only for the universities but for the NCAA. In 2014 the NCAA nearly topped $1 billion in revenue and not one cent of it went to any of the athletes that essentially brought in that surplus of money to the organization. Time and time again, scholarships have been proven to not meet the requirement of needs for a student-athlete to live off of. These students are often young and misguided which can lead to desperation. Turning to illegal forms of payment is what many of them do in order to have all that they really need.

11. Conclusion Even if the compensation is just a little something extra, it will definitely help all of the athletes and it might even assist them to stay focused to graduate with a degree. The debate has been heated over the past years and even players’ unions have formed over this trending topic. Overall, this extremely controversial topic should be further investigated and discussed. Collegiate athletes are struggling to make ends meet and meet the grueling practice and workout demands. Scholarship funds are an extremely small portion of the amount universities receive based off the revenue generated from athletes and sports they perform in.

12. References Berkowitz, S. (n.d.). USA TODAY Sports. Retrieved November 5, 2015. Holland, K. (2014, October 13). Athletic Scholarship Costs Don't Always Add Up for Hopeful Parents - NBC News. Retrieved November 5, 2015. New, J. (2015, January 27). College athletes greatly overestimate their chances of playing professionally | Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved November 5, 2015. Report: Bush received $280K in benefits at USC. (2007, October 11). Retrieved November 5, 2015. Scholarships. (2014, October 6). Retrieved November 5, 2015.