College athletes should not be paid! They get plenty enough perks as it is, from prime housing, to early course registration, meals, etc. At my school thousands of athletes get to register early every term, but the approximately 100 members of the honors program don't.
Last year a student athlete lived in my friend's on-campus apartment. The school paid for tuition, meals and housing for this girl, and she didn't care at all about academics at all. She even told me she was "just getting a degree so she could play basketball". What really irks me about this is that the school was paying for all of her expenses, despite the fact that she was injured and wouldn't be able to play all year!
Don't get me wrong, I really resepect student athletes. It takes a lot of time and dedication to participate competitively in a sport and to succeed academically; however many other students are putting in this same amount of dedication to their part-time jobs, clubs, non-funded sports, etc..
I just wish student athletes would appreciate all the perks they already have instead of looking for more. A few of my friends are on internationally competitive skating teams at their universities, and these girls are paying tons of money to be able to skate, for the love of the sport. They are practicing for a few hours each day, and managing their own team (travel expenses, travel plans, practice schedules, budget, etc.) that represents their school. Why should they have to pay hundreds of dollars a month to participate, while the football team is looking for paychecks?
Sorry if this offended everyone, I am just firm on the opinion that the primary purpose of going onto secondary education is to learn and grow academically.