Imagine this: you were putting in 40 hours of work a week and received nothing for it. This is the case for most college athletes, who spend more time practicing for sports the studying, and they have to get another side job to make money, so it is almost like they are working three jobs. College athletes should be paid because the athletic programs have enough money to pay the players without having too much of an impact on the schools financially, athletes spend countless hours on their sports and fall behind in academics, and it will help the athletes after college.

To begin, the college players should receive pay because the athletic programs have enough money to pay the players without having an impact on the programs financially. For example, Chris Smith, a Representative for New Jersey's 4th congressional district, said: “CBS and Turner Broadcasting make more than $1 billion off the games” (U.S. News). Companies that have college games on their channel make around 1 billion dollars off of the games. The colleges and the Nation College Athletic Association (N.C.A.A.) make tons of money and give none to the players. The players are the reason why they are getting any money at all. “The N.C.A.A. and the college sports establishment exploit the players who generate the billions that the grown-ups pocket”(Nocera).  This means the colleges can definitely afford to pay the players with no real impact on them. Some people think that paying the players would have a  huge impact on the college financially but this is not the case.  The N.C.A.A. has enough money to pay all the players in fact, the NCAA is an 11 billion dollar organization (Listland). This proves that the NCAA does not have any money problems so they should have no problem paying the athletes. That is one reason why college athletes should be paid.

Furthermore, college athletes spend more time in their sports and fall behind on their academics. For example, college athletes spend an average of 43.3 hours dedicated to the sport that they play per week (Listland). This proves the college players spend over a full work week  worth of time in sports every week. They work hard and receive nothing for it, how would that feel?  Next, it would only benefit the players if they received payment.  “If the NCAA paid its athletes, the students would not worry about where they will receive their money from. If they did do not have to worry about money than they could spend more time on their sports and their classes” (Listland). This proves that if the colleges paid their players than the players could focus more on their sports and their academics. Not only does it benefit the players but it also benefits the school. Lastly, “College athletes work 90 hours per week just to remain in school on their scholarship? This is the same as working two full-time jobs with a side job on the weekends just to pay their bills” (Listland). Even though the players receive free college, they still have to spend a ton of time in school and in sports to not lose their scholarship. So if they are spending two days on sports a week and 25 hours in school than they have no time to make any money to support themselves. So it the colleges paid the players, the players could spend even more time in school and sports. Some people believe that it is the player's fault for choosing to do a lot of activities and not have enough time for other activities. But the players have to spend a ton of time in sports and not as much time in school just so that they do not lose their scholarships that they acquire for playing sports.  They also have to worry about money so they might need to receive a job which will just make them fall further behind in the classes and limit the amount of time that they spend on their sports.  Overall, college players should receive payment because it would allow them to put more time into their sports and school.

Lastly, if college athletes receive payment, it will help them after college.  If players receive pay, it will help them learn how to manage their money (Listland). After college, the players may end up having a profuse amount of money and if they got paid in college they might already have some experience managing money.  If college athletes receive paid then they will leave college with more than a diploma (Listland). After college, when students athletes leave the college they will have some money and it will help them be ready to go into the world and they also do not have to worry about starting a job right away. Of course, this money will not be enough to help them forever, but it will help support them until they can find a job. The NCAA could consider small salary for student athletes as an educational gesture, a little amount of money would go a long way in promoting healthy money management. (Listland). Some people believe that if they received pay than the players might just waste their money. But if the players received payment it would help them not only during college but also in the future because they will already have an idea on how they should manage their money.  It will help the players if they do not make it into whatever professional sport they are playing. and they need some money to help them get off their feet. All in all, college athletes should be paid because it will help them after college because it teaches them how to manage their money and they leave college with more than a diploma.

As aforementioned, college athletes need to be paid. They have to be paid because the athletic programs have enough money to pay the players without having too much of an impact on them financially, athletes spend countless hours on their sports and fall behind in academics, and it will help the athletes after college. If the players do not receive pay then they will continue to fall behind in the academics, their social life will fall apart, and they will have no free time to spend how they want how would that feel.

Work Cited
Nocera, Joe. "A Way to Start Paying College Athletes." The New York Times. The New York Times,
08 Jan. 2016. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.

"Top 10 Reasons College Athletes Should Be Paid." Top 10 Lists ListLandcom. N.p., 22 Sept. 2015.
Web. 28 Mar. 2016.

US News. U.S.News & World Report, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2016.