9 May 2018 Are They Students Or Athletes?

Are They Students Or Athletes? 

You hear term student-athlete all time when the NCAA organization talks about the students who are on scholarships to the universities.  The NCAA is a billion dollar organization. They and the universities make a lot of money selling merchandise with the students name on it.  The student gets nothing from this.  The NCAA says the students’ compensation is payment for tuition, room and board, books etc.    

When you hear the student is on full ride, that implies his/her scholarship is good for 4 years. It actually is a year to year scholarship.  Also, if the student wants to go to another school, they have to sit out a year from their sport.  No one can explain how that is fair.  

If the NCAA really cared about the student side of student athlete, they would bring back the freshman ineligible rule.   That is the 1^styear is spent only on the academic side.  

Only a very small percentage of university athletes become professionals. So the universities should mainly be about educating the students and not trying to gain maximum financial extraction out of them.  A complete joke is the “one and done” scenario for basketball. That is someone goes to the university to play for one year and then goes pro.  There is no student side of student-athlete but the university makes a lot of money for them.  

Full ride scholarships need to include a large enough stipend that allows the student to cover all expenses for attending the school.  Also, the scholarship need to be for 4 years.  As long as the student meet academic requirements.

There needs to be a better balance than exists today.  It is student-ATHLETE, when it should be STUDENT-athlete.