Every morning since David's coach was released I've been checking the local newspapers to see if they have any news on the situation. Sometimes I feel like they get the news first before David can tell me anything. Well, this morning I came upon this story.
My first thoughts were "He is unAmerican", "His parents probably paid for his education anyway", "He is jealous of athletes", etc. Honestly, I don't think his idea would ever happen. There are countless athletes that are first in their family to go to college because of athletic scholarships. Yes, some don't take advantage of the schooling they are given but some really do. It enables them to make something of their lives.
I understand that people may think that college athletes are up there with professional athletes because they are "given" a chance to have an easy life in school without having to pay for it. While I do agree that it is very nice that they don't have to worry over tuition expenses, it could be argued that they have a much different college experience than those that are not tied to the university by that scholarship with the athletic department basically owning their life for 4 years (unless of course they leave early for pro).
I am not going to list off all the benefits and drawbacks of being a college athlete. The lists would probably be long and about equal length. I do however wish to voice my opinion on the matter in the complete opposite direction of Nader's. David's scholarship is very helpful in covering some of our monthly expenses, but I stress the word some. You see athletes breaking NCAA rules trying to make some extra cash here and there and while they are pretty stupid for breaking clear rules, I understand why they do that.
In our situation we are given a monthly stipend which is supposed to cover rent and food expenses. It covers our rent exactly and that is all. While that is our largest expense each month, we go through times (like this month) where we are looking around the house at things we can possibly sell to have a little extra for groceries or gas. We cannot consider anything that is given to David by the school because it is technically still school property. David has countless amounts of shoes, I wouldn't mind clearing some out just for extra room. If I didn't have a job we would be starving, in a sense. I feel for those honest athletes that may not have parents or family that can support them outside of the scholarship. I don't know how they support themselves. There is absolutely no time outside of school and sports to get a job, the off-season is their only chance to make money.
It is nice to never have to worry about school loans or payments for David, but that is not really an immediate perk of a scholarship. That is paid off in the future by having a good degree that was earned by David because he is a great student and takes advantage of the help he is given. Many student-athletes out there need immediate help with day-to-day expenses that a scholarship doesn't cover.
One comment David made after his coach was let go is a great addition to this opinion. He roughly said, "this has become less about the athletes and more of a business." I think that is spot on. NCAA officials (by this I do not mean refs), coaches, athletic directors make more than enough to support their families and then some while athletes have to be careful about every little decision they make to try to support themselves. Only a very small fraction of student-athletes progress on to a professional athlete status, the others hopefully used their academic experience and networking to get them into a field to give them a bright future outside of athletics.
It would be nice if the stipend was increased on a need-based system. That is roughly the point I am getting at.
That was my rather large thought this morning. What do you think of this subject?
4 comments:
When I think about how much money players (esp. the big sports like men's football and basketball that draw all the crowds) make for their schools, I definitely think players need to be reimbursed for their contributions. And the better the team does as a whole or a player does at setting records and getting the school attention, I think the schools should be paying the athletes merit-based "bonuses." That being said, I think they should at least be covering ALL of David's expenses since he's their athlete. Would the stipend be enough for David's food and housing if he was single? It should at least cover his portion of all the bills.
If he were single and living on campus he wouldn't receive a stipend. If he were single and living off campus it should cover rent and food.
Its better than nothing but it doesn't give them much comfort in treating themselves to a new shirt, pants, or non-basketball shoes now and then. They're wearing team gear a lot because they don't pay for that but who wants to wear team gear everyday?
I guess I think they should be given the chance to have a little extra spending money a month. Not a lot, maybe like $50 or something. Its rough for the guys living on campus, they don't see any stipend, they just have to provide for themselves outside of dorms and cafeteria food. The single guys living off campus have more room to find a cheap place and inexpensive food and have spending money after that.
I say if Nader wants to cut costs somewhere cut some out of the professional players. They have already established themselves as good, and they are working hard so they need to get that payment, but not so big that they can buy mansions, pay for expensive things for their different girlfriends, etc. College life is hard enough. While the college athletes are working so hard to make their names known as well as get a good education, let's not tear them down.
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