Should College Athletes Be Paid?

[Belsnickel]

(10-03-2018, 05:29 PM)GMDino Wrote: I realize many get scholarships too, but too often they can't earn any other money for things like...eating.

(10-03-2018, 05:33 PM)Yojimbo Wrote: I think it should be scholarships + monthly stipend.

What you two suggest, here, already happens. Scholarships aren't just for tuition. Scholarships are based upon the total costs which includes housing and meals. A full ride athlete gets all costs covered on campus, and because of NCAA regulations an off campus student must get the same. Now there is also the ability to pay up tot he full cost of attendance, which is a little higher. So scholarship athletes receive money for tuition, rent, and food. They also can receive money for books and other expenses. In addition to all of that, they usually have a clothing allowance and others sorts of things.

We, and many schools, for an off-campus student athlete will provide them part of their scholarship as an allotment which is paid out monthly. This is done because they can't manage their money if we give it to them all at once.

(10-03-2018, 06:37 PM)fredtoast Wrote: I think everyone agrees in theory that it is unfair for universities to make hundreds of millions of dollars off athletes with out giving them more than a scholarship.

The devil is in the details. How do ALL athletes get paid when only a very few sports actually generate income. and how do the smaller schools compete with the larger schools that can afford to pay more.

Exactly this. Most athletics departments in the NCAA aren't self-sustaining. They are supported by fees charged to other students at the university. Even with the revenue sharing athletics departments have to rely on these other forms of revenue. When I first started my job, there was a lot of hubbub about higher education expenditures in the state. There was a report by Virginia's version of the GAO, JLARC, on this. This is the report (http://jlarc.virginia.gov/pdfs/Reports/Rpt443.pdf), but it has a lot of other stuff to it This article touches on the athletics part: https://www.richmond.com/sports/college/jlarc-report-of-tuition-fees-went-to-athletics/article_3612f7da-1973-11e3-a102-0019bb30f31a.html

Quote:As scrutiny increases on the use of mandatory student fees to pay for athletic programs, a state legislative study indicates Virginia's public schools and universities are charging significant amounts to make up shortfalls.

Students at Virginia's state-supported four-year schools had an average of 12 percent of their tuition and fees during the 2012-13 school year plowed into athletic budgets, the study said.

Schools do not receive state money for their athletic programs. Auxiliary enterprises - athletics, campus recreation, student housing and student dining - are expected to be self-supporting through student fees and other revenue.

The Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission's report on auxiliary enterprises on Monday found that 10 athletic programs generated only a small amount of the revenue needed to cover their expenses in 2011-12.

Only Virginia Tech (89 percent) and the University of Virginia (84 percent) - which get significant revenue-sharing sums from the Atlantic Coast Conference - and Virginia Military Institute (61 percent) and William and Mary (44 percent) were above 26 percent.

U.Va. and Virginia Tech had the only football teams and men's basketball teams that didn't have a shortfall in 2011-12, according to the report.

The General Assembly directed JLARC to study the cost efficiency of the state's public colleges and universities and identify opportunities to reduce the cost of higher education.

Part of JLARC's ongoing review found that total athletic spending for state programs has increased $85.9 million in the past six years, with an average growth of 43 percent.

Nationally, subsidies for athletics rose nearly $200 million from 2011 to 2012 for 228 Division I public schools, according to a USA Today study. Only 23 schools made enough money to pay for their athletic programs.

The state increase was attributed to athletic scholarships, coaching and support staff salaries, and facilities.

I put in bold the line that I want to point out. Virginia Tech, the largest and most successful of the athletics programs in the Commonwealth, still has to rely on 11% of its athletics budget from student fees that are paid with tuition costs. You can see from that section, only three of the 14 schools get even over half of their costs covered without fees. So with concerns over the rising costs of college to students, adding onto this burden with paying student athletes just isn't going to fly.