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Tanner Dorrance
Mr. Jorgensen
Writing 1010
April 14, 2014
What Do College Athletes Deserve
Did you get paid to attend your favorite school and to play your favorite sport? If so, you
are very fortunate and received a very big opportunity for your future. On August 28
th
, 2013
college football player Johnny Manziel was suspended for the first half of his teams, Texas
A&M, season opener against the Rice Owls. Even though there wasnt any evidence to prove
this accusation they said he received payment for autographs that he had signed. Johnny is
always in the spotlight because in 2012 he became the first freshman to ever win the Heisman
trophy. The Heisman is the most prestigious award for a college football player and compares to
the most valuable player of NCAA football. This incident with Manziel has raised a huge issue
on if college athletes should be paid or not.
There is no question that universities bring in large amounts of revenue with their sports
teams and students. What most people dont think of is how universities are spending their
money. According to the Huffington Post over 25% is spent on their teachers and instruction, just
over 12% on research to make this world better in health and environmental issues, 11.3% on
services for hospitals, 7.3% on academic services, about 5% on student support and another 5%
on public service among other great things for the community. In numbers all this only accounts
for 65.6% but I did not include many things such as landscape and other maintenance around
campus. On top of that we have to remember it is a business. To stay in business you have to
make money not lose money, its that simple.

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However, this issue we have on our hands if college athletes should be paid or not is not
that simple. There are many different sports and both men and women play. The athletes
themselves are hard to judge on who will make the best impact for their team, while maintaining
a good grade point average and staying out of trouble. Some sports make more money than
others. College football is on television every Saturday during the fall while sports like college
golf and tennis are never seen. Basketball also gets a lot of air time, but they only show baseball
during the College World Series. All of these college athletes work hard to compete in their
sports. How do you decide who you are going to pay what amount of money?
One way they might to decide to pay athletes is by having bidding wars on outstanding
high school players. Having bidding wars would make it so the students were like part of the
NFL free agency. This would make college sports much less competitive. The big schools with
people that donate money such as the University of Texas would have way more to spend on
student athletes every year then say a school like Utah State. It would make it so March Madness
was turned into March Sadness because there wouldnt be the great underdog like a seven seed
University of Connecticut winning the national championship. The schools with the most money
would flash their coin and the most talented athletes would want to cash in.
Many people that I know like watching college sports more than professional sports. One
of the reasons of this is because of the passion and team pride of the athletes. Professional
athletes dont necessarily play for teams because that is their favorite, but simply because they
offered more money. In college, a student picks where he wants to go based on the atmosphere
of the school and the location. If they pick somewhere close to home it makes them more
compassionate because they want to make the people back home proud. Making the decision on

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where to go to college can be a very difficult thing. If you are a student athlete and can pick
anywhere in the nation to go, it makes the drive for wanting to play for that team go up.
Having money in in sports makes it so the athletes play more as individuals instead of as
a team. Professional athletes pay attention to how well their statistical line is more than the
scoreboard of the game. They have to because that is how teams base on how much to pay them.
Tim Tebow is a perfect example of this. He won two national championships at the University of
Florida as a Gator. Tim Tebow didnt stop his winning habits there. In 2011 the Denver Broncos
started their first five games of the season with a bad one win and four losses record. This is
when Tebow Time took off. They made Tim the starting quarterback and he finished the
Broncos 2011 season with a eight win and eight losses record. So with Tebow at the helm of the
team the Broncos were 7-4 which is a winning record and tough for anybody in the NFL. The
Broncos squeaked into the playoffs that year and were matched up with the highly favored
Pittsburgh Steelers. It was a hard fought game and found itself tied and in overtime after 4
quarters had not determined a winner. On the first offensive play of the overtime, Tim Tebow
once again shocked the world with a bullet pass to Demaryius Thomas to win the game. How did
the Denver Broncos reward him? By trading him to the New York Jets for a 5
th
round pick.
Tebow never got a shot again after that even though he had already proven he can win. Currently
he is not on a NFL roster. They say that he doesnt have a good throwing motion and is not a
good quarterback, but isnt the point of the game to win no matter how it is done? Being able to
watch athletes like Tebow is part of what makes college athletics great. He was given a chance
because he was smart with a great college grade point average at 3.66. Tim is also a great leader
and fired up his team with his excitement for the game; so what he couldnt throw as far as

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Aaron Rodgers? Paying the student athletes will overload the teams and great leadership and
love for the sport will start to disappear.
College athletes get paid through scholarships to going to school. Yes they put in a lot of
time with practicing and playing the sport, but many other college students dont get much free
time either. Instead of having to head to work after class, they get to go play with their
teammates. I know how hard it is to pay for college. I work 40 hours a week and Im also
considered a full time student. I have to work just to cover my tuition and books, and even
working full time I cant afford to move out of my parents house. Student athletes get to live on
their own, with all of their meals paid for. They never have to have the worry in the back of their
mind of how will I pay for this semester. An average value for a full scholarship is 15,000 dollars
a year, which is about what I made working five days a week last year. While on the road for
away games college athletes get to eat restaurant food like steak and ribs. Most college students
eat Top Ramen for every meal of the day. Being worried about not having money to go out and
have fun is a lame excuse as well because they get to hang out with their buddies almost every
day. You dont need money to have fun. While visiting Logan, Utah this winter I saw almost a
whole apartment complex of college students having a snowball fight. All this entertainment and
laughter was provided by Mother Nature. If you can have a great time out in the cold I know you
can in the warm weather. You can go to the park, play kick the can, and scare your friends
among other countless activities.
During the College Basketball Championship game on April 7
th
, 2014 between the
Connecticut Huskies and Kentucky Wildcats, former NCAA football player for the Oklahoma
Sooners Adrian Peterson was interviewed on the topic if college athletes should be paid or not.
Speaking on universities he said without the players, how much money do they make? They

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make no money without the players. Well Adrian, I hate to break it to you but they still make
money without sports teams. Tuition isnt cheap and for those of us that actually have to pay that
know it firsthand. For the 2013-2014 school year, according to the College Board, tuition and
fees was $8,893 for in state students at public schools, $22,203 for out of state students, and
$30,094 at private schools. The average number of students per college is 2,848. Say that by
chance a public university had all in state students, they would still make $25,327,264. Peterson
also must not realize all the money I discussed earlier that universities put back into the
community.
A benefit for the athletes not being paid with cash is they are not taxed. Receiving a
scholarship for tuition and fees is a source of income. So if they become employees of the
university they will have Federal income tax, State income tax, local income taxes, and also
payroll taxes. At Northwestern University tuition costs about $65,000 dollars a year. If the
student athlete got paid this in cash about one third or $22,000 of this would be taken away and
deducted as taxes. If they are considered employees instead of students of the school they will
have to start paying for their own healthcare. On a full ride scholarship they get covered on
injuries and visits to the doctor because of on field injuries and physicals. If they get hurt during
a game and lose the ability to play their sport, student athletes still are provided with the full ride
scholarship on medical leave. As employees they would most likely have to sign a contract
releasing the schools liability on guaranteeing the athlete to be paid if he cant play due to injury.
Becoming part of a union also has its fees, which the student athletes at Northwestern University
are trying to do. If they were making a salary, the school would most likely not pay their tuition.
This would put many of the athletes in debt for possibly a very lengthy amount of time because
student loans are taken out for 20 years. The few that make it to professional sports shouldnt

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have a problem taking care of these fees, but for most of the young adults 20 years in debt is a
long time. Alumni will feel less encouraged to donate money to their university for scholarships
to the athletes if they are making a salary. Only the big dollar sports that are on television all the
time like football and basketball would get some perks for unionization of athletes because the
universities would try and pay the other sports much less money.
I got the opportunity to personally interview a student athlete by the name of Kallie
Sperry. She plays tennis for the Utah State Aggies. Kallie is on a full ride scholarship and is
majoring in Communications in her sophomore year. One of the things that Kallie told me about
her situation is that living off campus she receives $900 a month for rent. Her rent is only $500 a
month and she says she only uses around $100 dollars on food. This leaves her with $300 to
spend at her own free will. That is plenty to go have fun with and more than most families use
each month on entertainment. Another complaint student athletes had was they didnt have
enough money to go shopping. Well that $300 extra dollars should easily cover your shopping
habits too but if not the universities give their athletes a new pair of shoes every month. Another
benefit Kallie shared with me for the college student athlete is that they get extra time on their
assignments and tests. One of the NCAA regulations is to let the student athletes have three days
after they get home from a road game to make up a test. Kallie told me that one of her
instructors said that on average universities pay about $300,000 dollars per student athlete under
full-ride scholarship. That equals to about $100,000 more than the average household in America
would make in four years. They are making more than most people by going out and competing
in a sport that they love. Kallie said playing for Utah State is tons of fun; I might do it for
nothing if they didnt give scholarships! That shows how well they are treated and how much
joy they get in making life long memories and friendships with their teammates. Kallie felt very

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passionate that she was very well compensated with all her education, rent and meals for playing
the sport she loves for the team she loves.
College athletes get more than a fair share for what they put into it. They get an extra four
years to postpone the real world and having to really work for a living. The reason they started
playing a certain sport is because its what they love to do. In todays world it seems like the
only thing ever on peoples minds is money and this is a perfect example of that. Student athletes
are being handed an education which is a lifelong tool where money is only temporary and it can
come and go. They need to feel less entitled to everything and see that they have a huge
advantage over the rest of the world with free education. Dont lose your passion college
athletes. Dont let money be your only motivation in this life.