College Athletes Pay to Play

I found an article on the website PR Newswire about how much college athletes on full scholarships actually pay for attendance at each Division I university. The article was titled “Study of Scholarship Shortfall Numbers Reveal College Athletes Pay to Play”

Today, March 26, The NCPA, National College Players Association released results of a study that showed what student-athletes pay per year for school.

The NCPA claims that universities have been deceiving recruits into unknowingly being responsible to pay thousands of dollars even though they are on a “full” scholarship. Many of these recruits are under that ages of 18 and many of them come from disadvantages backgrounds.

United Steelworkers International Presedent Leo W. Gerard states “the fact is, coaches fill high school recruits’ heads with promises of free rides and full scholarships, when in fact no such things exist. The NCAA designs full scholarships to fall short of the advertised price tag of a school, leaving recruits scrambling to make ends meet.” The United Steelworkers have helped back the NCPA since 2001.

The NCAA rules prohibit universities from providing athletic scholarships that equal the cost of attendance. So for a university to call it a “full” athletic scholarship is very deceptive and appears to be a deliberate attempt at misleading young high school student-athletes, their parents, and current college athletes.

The NCPA partnered with Ellen J. Staurowsky, a professor of sport management, to calculate the estimated scholarship shortfall at every Division I university that offers athletic Scholarships. She states that "The mythology that college athletes receive a free education in exchange for their athletic labor is a powerful one, fueled in part, by a public perception that athletes have an easy path to being admitted into college and a privileged path through school once in. The database we've compiled begins to debunk this myth and serves as an important public disclosure mechanism to aid athletes as they consider their scholarship offers. Athletes and their families should know that this gap exists and that their expenses will be greater than the promise a free ride suggests."

The results revealed that NCAA scholarships limitations can leave a full scholarship athlete with expenses ranging from $200 per year up to more than $6,000 per year. A full scholarship athlete could be responsible to pay up to $30,000 over the course of five years.

As a service to high school recruits, their parents, and college athletes, the NCPA mad all 336 school’s estimated scholarships shortfalls available on its website. These results could help those colleges that don’t have as much as a shortfall with the recruiting process.

With the $6 billion that the NCAA is receiving from CBS alone, there is more than enough new money to eliminate these scholarships shortfalls for the players who generate over $4 billion each year. I agree with this, if it weren’t for these athletes the NCAA would not be able to have this money coming in every year.

College sports has been a big deal for many years. And for these athletes it’s a full time job to go to school and be expected to play every day and be good. I think that if they can allow full academic scholarships to pay all expenses than an athletic scholarship should do the same. They do a lot for their schools and should be rewarded and not deceived with words full ride.