Student-Athletes Have Earned The Right To Be Paid

It’s not so easy being a college athlete.

Players spend hours practicing, studying for school, and in some cases struggling to find enough money to purchase a decent meal.

Miami Dade College basketball player Joe Junior Mvuezolo is one student-athlete who faces difficulties off the court trying to purchase food.

Mvuezolo, a London native, said MDC gives him $300 a month for food. He said he can barely get by with that.

With $300 a month, athletes would have to spend roughly $9.67 a day to make it last.

“I have not eaten the whole day,” Mvuezolo said during a recent interview.

“My three-hundred is gone for the month. I’ll ask a couple of the guys for money and they don’t have money either, so that can only mean one thing, the three-hundred is not enough.”

Players put in so much time for the school and receive hardly any compensation.

Colleges make so much off athletes and the athletes do not get a fair cut of those profits.

College athletes don’t receive pay for the use of their names, images or likenesses in having their jerseys being sold.

Even when they appear in video games, they do not receive compensation.

The argument towards players getting paid is that they are getting a free education and that should be enough.

Many players receive full scholarships with tuition, room and board, and books, but they don’t get money for playing.

“I don’t think [the players] should get paid,” said Miami Dade College Athletic Director Anthony Fiorenza. “At least not at [the junior college] level, they’re not generating funds.”

Regular students do not generate anywhere near the amount of profits student-athletes bring to a university. Not to mention that college athletes are putting their health at risk while on the court or on the field when they are playing their respective sports.

One bad injury and that can be the end of a player’s career.

If college athletes make it professionally and they get injured, the professional team covers their medical expenses, but if they don’t go professional, the injured athlete could possibly face difficulties rehabbing and paying for future injuries if another occurs.

Possible injuries are part of the reason why sports fans have witnessed many “one and dones” in college sports. There is a huge concern of getting injured without pay.

The percentage of players going on to play professional basketball after college is about one percent, according to hoopsvibe.com. Those numbers reflect college basketball, but there are athletes in football, baseball and other sports trying to make it to the next level with the same slim chances of playing professional.

College athletes should be getting paid.

An allowance of a couple hundred bucks doesn’t help an athlete who has to fuel his or her body everyday when they are putting their bodies on the line.

With schools making millions of dollars off of athletes, it is time student-athletes get their cut.