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College Athletes Should Not Be Paid

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For years, a multimillion dollar organization has not only withheld money from its employees, but actively prevented them from receiving any sort of income. In almost any scenario, that organization would be denounced by the public, and everything would be done to ensure that those workers were given a chance to profit from their labor. However, since those workers are college athletes, many in the public turn the other cheek. The NCAA exploits college athletes under the guise of “amateurism” and prevents them from receiving their fair share of a multimillion dollar business. The first thing to address when discussing college athletes and compensation is the steadfast argument held on to by the NCAA’s supporters that college athletes receive a free education, and therefore do not deserve to be compensated beyond that. This argument does two things: it distracts from the primary issue, that college athletes are prevented from profiting off of their name and likeness, and serves as a flat-out lie. In fact, according to the NCAA’s own website, only 56% of Division I athletes receive “some” form of athletics aid, meaning that even less than that receive a full free education to go with the 44% who receive no compensation at all (NCAA Recruiting). Add in the fact that athletes are typically put into majors that will be convenient for their schedule and not majors that can offer them something later in life, and this often used argument holds no weight at all in this discussion.

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