When you go to work you expect to get paid, right? Not if you’re a college athlete. There are almost 500,000 college football players alone. That is just one sport of the many under the NCAA´s rule.

During these athletes’ time with the NCAA they are not allowed to even receive a penny for their contribution to whatever sport they are playing. Imagine going to work and working almost 8 hour days, having school work, and struggling with everyday issues.

The NCAA makes billions of dollars every year and are directly profiting off of every single athletes performance.

Now you may ask how the players feel about this well you can just ask current day Los Angeles Laker, Lebron James. In 2018 while on the Cleveland Cavaliers, Lebron said ¨I’m not a fan of the NCAA…I’m not a fan of how the kids don’t benefit from none of this.¨ Lebron himself completely skipped the college process and went straight to the NBA. Lebron James has later gone on to call the NCAA corrupt.

The main argument to athletes getting paid is that they are offered a free education while a majority of kids are not. But unlike other kids college athletes are expected to uphold a higher standard of maturity while also doing school work and while trying to handle all that they also have to fight for a starting spot on their team. Another fact is that college athletes aren’t brought to that college to learn, they are brought there to compete and play.

States and political figures are starting to realize that these young athletes are being taken advantage of. This has led to states such as California to start the movement of allowing college athletes to make money off of their own play, name, and likeness.

Even on a more local level two varsity level football players believe that college athletes should be paid. One said ¨Schools don’t win games, players do but at the end of the day the school gets all the money, in my that just doesn’t add up.¨ The other said, “For football players at least, you go out there and put your body on the line. If I get hurt that could mess up future jobs and future money that I have a chance to make.¨