Now Listen Up

Should college athletes on scholarship be paid? How about $56.25 per hour in-state and $83.25 per hour out-of-state for full-scholarship football players?

Believe it or not, that's what the benefits work out to at one well-known FBS school. And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

From a thought-provoking column:

As a bonus, this full scholarship allows you access to tutors and computer labs and player lounges – all free to you, the student-athlete. Any medical costs incurred beyond your insurance are covered. You can be flown home at the school's expense for funerals or family emergencies. There can be bowl gifts of several hundred dollars as well.

If you and your family have financial difficulties, this scholarship also allows you to receive any Pell Grant money you are qualified for up to the federal maximum of $5,550 per year. There's also a needy student fund allowing for several hundred dollars a year to buy clothes.

When it comes right down to it, this pay package looks pretty good to most of America. An opportunity to attend some of the top universities in the country and graduate with no student loans to pay off looks good when you consider the average college student in this country starts off with $24,000 in debt the day they graduate.
We haven't even begun to discuss the hundreds of thousands of extra earnings you can realize over your lifetime with a college degree that you wouldn't make without one.

Read this and see if you still think scholarship athletes are getting a raw deal.

The column also might have included that part of the scholarship package is getting into a school that might otherwise not accept you, and essentially having your own personal guidance counselor helping you through the admissions process.