So instead of giving them tuition, why not just give them the money? For more than 1/2 the students, the education is worthless to them anyways. Look at the Hester example above. You're wasting the time of the "student" and the time of the school - time that could be spent on people who do want to learn and part of the problem of tuition rising so fast as more people are enrolled. Considering it's a fulltime job to play sports for the college - in terms of gym time, practice, review of plays, travel - this wasted time becomes more valuable.Monkey_Driven wrote:Average cost of attendance at Mizzou for an in-state student is $21,000. The average wage in the state of Missouri is $29,000. Throw in the the extra $3,700 athletes will now be paid. There is more to college than just going to class too. I think a lot of things need to change with the NCAA but the money is pretty fair for the average athlete.Fuck You Jobu wrote:Why not?darth_vedder wrote:I don't think colleges should turn into farm teams for the NFL, and I do not think the players should flat out be paid.
I would rather tweak the rules so players get payments in the form of: scholarships, food / meal plans, tutoring, insurance, and whatever else I'm not thinking of right now.
For star players, if they can make money off their name via autographs, jersey sales, EA's College Football game, whatever, then I think that is ok too.
I think something needs to change, but I don't know if I'm on board with just paying players a salary / hourly wage.
I wrote this earlier in the thread:
In regards to the players getting a college education as compensation, how does that affect someone like Devin Hester? He's not intelligent at all, but he did bring in a lot of money to Miami, so how will an 'education' help him? He's not bright enough to graduate. To put it another way, say I wanted to hire you to come clean up my big yard that is full of dogshit. It's a huge yard with a lot of dogs and you'll work very hard shoveling >10hrs a day. I won't pay you any money. But I will teach how to become a super-advanced rocket engineer that will be worth millions!! This education does require a Mensa type intelligence. I'll see you reporting for work tomorrow, right? I mean the education is worth millions of dollars.
Also, how much of an "education" are most of these guys getting if they are spending all their time in the gym, going to meetings, practicing? It's basically a full time (+OT), so how much time is left for this "free education"? Some can manage sure, but as we're seeing more can't.... Look at the SEC graduation rates...
Sure they should be able to get food/shelter. And they should get insurance if injured while practicing/playing. That's a no-brainer. But why aren't they compensated at a market value like 99% of the other jobs. With training, gym, travel to games, meetings and practice, this is a fulltime job. Would you be working your fulltime job without money compensation and for free cafeteria food?
How do you know that $29,000 is fair compensation? What is the true value a player provides to a program and the billions of dollars the NCAA makes off of them? Why aren't they allowed to explore their true worth, value, and compensation instead of it being appointed to zero by a few people making millions of dollars off of them?
Tuition isn't fungible compensation. The problem with the "they already get compensated plenty" argument is that it's highly illiquid compensation(GH quote). You can't buy food, clothes, or anything with it.
Do you get paid in tuition at your job or do you receive a direct deposit of cash? Would you take the job shoveling in the previous example?
