Should college athletes get paid?

With Rick Pitino out at the University of Louisville, and the university marred in a huge corruption scandal, a question arises again: Should college athletes get paid?

Gov. Bevin says yes, college athletes should be considered professionals, thus, should be paid.

Sen. Rand Paul also agrees, but offered a different solution of “deferred payments.” Basically, college athletes could get paid for endorsing brands while playing for their college team, but not until after they have graduated or gone pro. Many also say offering athletes full tuition should compensate for their contributions to the school’s sports program.

There is a lot of uproar, however, from college undergraduates who are not athletes. Why should college athletes get full rides when others made 4.0s in high school and did not get any scholarships?

As someone who worked extremely hard in high school, made the grades, had the extracurriculars, and did not get a full ride, I can understand many non-athletes’ grievances. But, the fact still remains that high profile college sports teams bring a lot of revenue and fame to their institutions.

For high profile sports teams like University of Kentucky’s basketball team, the university should provide full rides. Kentucky basketball is known nationwide and puts Lexington, Kentucky on the map. Smaller colleges, however, many of whom do not make enough money off of their teams to break even in profits, do not necessarilyneed to provide full scholarships for their athletes.

While that may sound harsh, schools should not sacrifice millions of dollars on sports programs that do not produce a fruitful result. Those same millions can be spent on academics instead.

Corruption in the college sports industry will not end, simply because it is a such a huge money-making market. However, college athletes should not have to pay the price for it.