Scholarship Athletes or Cheap Labor
What is college all about?
This is not a simple question to answer for anyone especially the college athlete. Most Americans will say that we go to college to get an education; the purpose of which is undetermined. The end goal,however, is the receiving of your diploma, furthering your intellect to be more well-rounded as an individual. Is that really why we go to college though? What kind of return on investment are we getting if we are just going to retain knowledge that nets us nothing in return other than a new holistic view on the world?
The purpose of college, especially in a time when tuition is so high, is to get a job. Something that can pay off that astronomical student debt that we are so shamelessly tallying as we go from class to class for 4, maybe 5 years.
Let’s now focus our attention to the student athlete. A high honor that has gained some added scrutiny in recent years due to some student athletes believing that their rights have been compromised and thrown to the wayside for the benefit of the university and the business that is perpetuated by the NCAA. Before I come to my conclusion on this whole semi-pro/college athletics discussion let’s do some digging on what the real issues are.
College athletics are a beacon of hope for many of those that are not afforded the opportunity to go college on their own dime. Because of this, more than 18% of student athletes are first time college goers.
This graphic, as provided by the NCAA, paints a very interesting picture of first generation college student athletes. More first generation student athletes are paying for their college via an athletic scholarship than an academic one. Further, almost 40% of student athletes come from low income families. It’s opening the door for so many families that wouldn’t normally be given the opportunity to break the status quo. So many young people have broken out of the vicious cycle of the underprivileged through athletic scholarships. For this I applaud universities in granting those opportunities.
What else does this combination of low income athletes and high percentage of scholarships show? It shows the weight that these scholarships carry. The amount of students that count on these athletic scholarships for their well-being, their hopes, and their dreams for their families is not a trivial amount. In a study conducted by Sallie May, first generation students as a whole receive roughly 50% less familial monetary support to the second generation student. On average, a first generation student is placing a much higher percentage of their college tuition on loans than a second generation student. Since so many of our student athletes are first generation college students, they need more support from the colleges.
According to a study by the National College Players Association, 86% of college athletes live below the poverty line. 86%! … let that number sink in.
Let me present that staggering statistic in another fashion for you.
395,000 students are not able to make ends meet at college. That is equivalent to the combined population of 13 of the 14 schools in the SEC. WOW. Let me clarify this 86%. This does not mean that 86% of student athletes came from low income families. As stated earlier, that number is closer to 40%, which is still high. The 86% is the percentage of athletes that when living on campus or off campus are themselves below the poverty line because they cannot generate additional revenue on top of their scholarships to cover food, clothes, or general household things. The scholarship isn’t enough when so many of these kids come from low income families. The scholarship can cover tuition and most of their board but not much else.
Alright, now that we’ve all recovered from that number, we can move on.
All of this looks great for colleges, giving money away to less fortunate, and giving so many people a chance to break the mold. Good for them. Awesome, so we’re done now…..That can’t be it. There must be something in it for them. Right, there is. A whole boat-load of money.
Alabama is one of the bigger schools in the SEC, and they just won a national championship so let’s look at them first. $153,234,273. That’s their revenue in one year. Such a glorious institution, but their net profits must be small because of all the athletic scholarships and all the things they have to pay for to support themselves. $33 million. $33 million in leftover profit, just from the athletic department. These athletes, some who could never imagine seeing this sort of money are generating 33 million dollars every year for an athletic department. That money doesn’t resurface in exciting research for the school or better teaching facilities, because the university is already making near 80% margins on the common student tuition. That money is poured right back into the athletic department and higher salaries for coaches or a shiny new concourse that fits 10,000 more people at the stadium. A lot of the time this money comes from selling the jersey number of the athlete, or a picture of that player catching the winning touchdown or making the winning basket. Up until 3 years ago, thanks to Ed O’Bannon noticing that the athlete should either be making money or no one should , a lot of money came from college video games that showed a player’s jersey number, exactly what they looked like, but didn’t put their name and thus side-skirted having to pay out the players.
Alright so at this point you are probably thinking, “They make a lot of money, but those athletes are taken care of and have a worry-free life.”
With regards to private tutors and dorm costs and having the highest level of training? Yes, they are. They are being taken care of. Then again every student has out of pocket costs, so how much are those? $3,222 per year out-of -pocket according to that same NCPA report. 86% of these students whom are living below the poverty line then have to pay that.
That isn’t my biggest issue. The biggest problem happens when a player gets injured. Injuries are a big part of sports and naturally sideline a player for a period of time.
I’m nowhere near athletic enough to play college sports, but for the purpose of a fun hypothetical let’s say I play college football for the University of Texas. A Wes Welker type. Lining up in the slot and wreaking havoc without caring for my well being by not being scared to go over the middle. As a junior, I start now, but in the 4th game of the season I get hurt. My leg sticks in the grass at the Cotton Bowl and a safety takes me out. ACL gone, MCL gone, LCL gone, plus a torn rotator cuff from landing awkwardly, and let’s say I break my hand from landing on it to protect my fall. Pretty gruesome injury. Let’s also say in this hypothetical I am one of the 86% of students that live below the poverty line. We go to the hospital, Mom, Dad, brother, girlfriend, best friends, the whole deal. Doc says I’m going to need surgery for the knee and minor surgeries for the hand and shoulder. He says I can play again, but it won’t be for another 12 months. Dang, that’s not until the middle of senior year. We go through with the surgery. For argument’s sake let’s say the surgeries cost $85,000. I pass that bill right to the university assuming that I’m covered. The university passes it right back. Wait, WHAT?!? I got myself smashed around for this school, and you won’t pay for my injury.
Schools are not required to pay for surgeries that total less than $90,000 (The Atlantic).
Well, the coach likes me, so he’s going to make a push to the university to pay for it. I’ll get myself back in shape, finish my senior year with the team, graduate, and find a decent job. The university pushes back, saying that I will not be able to play for the rest of my time here, what’s the point of keeping my scholarship? I’m too expensive. Now it starts to click, the coach has 10 other receivers on the roster and he really likes that 3 star recruit from LaGrange. He takes my scholarship away, saves the university my medical expenses and the price of my education.
HE TAKES THE SCHOLARSHIP AWAY.
Gone.
All of it gone.
Scholarships are not protected for injury as pointed from that same Atlantic article. There is not insurance for injury in the fine print of a scholarship. There were more than 20,000 injuries in college football in this year alone. These injuries ranged from mild to very severe, but not a single dollar of scholarship money was safe when the athlete went down.
So here we are. A year from graduation, loads deep in medical bills, soon to be loads deep in rehab costs, living in a family below the poverty line. What is the university doing about this? How are they suffering? They aren’t. They are still selling my jersey number and cups with my face on it.
You might say that’s a bit of an outlandish story and probably doesn’t happen ever. Sure it probably doesn’t happen that often, but it can. The scenario exists.
Stanley Doughty didn’t get his scholarship revoked, but he had to pay for his medical bills: $20,000 for spinal surgery that wouldn’t have been necessary had the team doctors erred on the side of caution instead of taking advantage of Doughty as a tool for their success.
So you agree, the system is terrible. What do we do?
Right now the college athlete is basically free labor for the profit of the athletic department. I am not saying that they should be made employees of the university or made into a semi pro league. I like the idea of the students still being required to go to school as per the scholarship. The athletes need that education as less than 7% on average go professional in their sport. Of the more than 400,000 athletes, only 27,000 will ever make it in their sport. Say we keep them in school so they can find a back up plan. What I propose is giving them the difference of their net value to the school and the scholarship.
For the University of Texas for example, the total academic cost of a entire year at the university is roughly $10,000 for a resident and, although not shown, is roughly $35,000 for a non resident. If we add the room and board, food allowances, and other expenses. The resident price is roughly $27,000 per year. The non resident price is roughly $54,000 per year. Take that over the 4 years it takes to earn a degree and you get a total cost of schooling of $108,000 for residents and $216,000 for non residents.
Now, what is the net value of a football player at the University of Texas? According to that same NCPA report, the calculated net value of a football player at UT is $513,922.
Let’s save the University of Texas a little money here and use the non resident price for the students scholarship, then increase the price of the scholarship by $34,000 to account for coaching, the facilities, and privileges they receive during their time there. Set the total value of the scholarship to $250,000 for a University of Texas football player. If we subtract that from their net value, the player should receive $263,922 over the life of their collegiate career. Divide this by 4, and the player receives $65,980. Of course this is now considered taxable income and the student would have to learn how to pay taxes and manage their money, but it would give them an opportunity to start saving in case things fall apart in college.
$65,980
Can the university afford this to every football player they have? Let’s use this number and Alabama’s revenue to see if they will make ends meet. The total cost of the football team would be $5.4 million. Still less than Nick Saban’s $7.1 million, and, if I’m not mistaken he hasn’t played a down in a number of years.
Still, if a college is feeling like that is still too much for a student athlete, why don’t you make it an even $20,000 and tier it by the risk? The highest risk gets the most and you tier it down to $10,000 for those who are at little or no risk. And let the players receive endorsments. So what if the Heisman trophy winner does a spot for Nike. Who cares? He’s not profiting on your loss; he’s just giving himself every opportunity to succeed in this life.
The point is not to make the players rich, but to give them some representation and some rights. Instead of protecting them to seek out and complete their education, they are being used and mistreated and deserve some compensation.
