Student athletes should be classified as an employee group at colleges and universities. (Essay Sample)

Should Student-Athletes Be Paid?
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Whether student-athletes should be compensated or not is an endless debate that has graced many forums, with the National Collegiate Athletic Association(NCAA) aggravating the issue in handling the lawsuit that demanded that such students receive a salary. NCAA has overlooked for years, the fact that being a student-athlete in learning institution means a lot than one would ever imagine. While being in this category of students means that the student should put their education first and education second, the line between the two is often blurry and difficult to maintain the hierarchy of priority. The responsibility to put education first and sports as the second can be so challenging considering that most student-athletes spend a huge chunk of their time doing sports. This responsibility bestowed on these young men and women of being both students and athletes can be draining, tempting, and dangerous. It comes with many restrictions making it difficult for them to strike a reasonable balance. For instance, on a typical day in a student-athlete life, the athlete wakes up by sunset, then head to the gym, then attend course classes before going for another 3-4 hours of practice and another couple of hours in the mandatory study hall. Worth noting is that all this does not account for the many road trips and film sessions to study strategy and technique. Thus, it is only fair and rational that student-athletes should be paid as full-time college employees as they do not have the opportunity to look for scholarships and jobs.
The cost of footing university and college education is very high. Not all student-athletes are provided with scholarships to enable them to pay tuition, room, books, and board. Consequently, students are likely to accumulate debts because they will be forced to borrow money to cater for their education (Sanderson & Siegfried,2015). While many people hold that student-athletes should be paid for playing for their schools, some believe that compensating students for representing their schools in sports activities will ruin university sports integrity. When President Roosevelt founded the (NCAA) in 1906, he believed that college and students were amateurs who needed such a platform to advance their careers and not professionals. However, considering that some students may not sufficiently cater to their needs in school, it is only fair that they are paid to not run into avoidable debts.