The term ‘student athlete’ was coined by the National Collegiate Athletic Association to define and describe the functions of a collegiate athlete attending any institution that falls under its rules and regulations.

What has emerged as a heated argument for the past decade is this: what if student athletes were to be compensated or get paid some kind of money throughout their collegiate career?

Hearing that statement for the first time anyone would disagree right away, especially since a lot of athletes around the United States are on an athletic scholarship, that should be enough and who ever earned it should be grateful.

According to Walter Byers, who was the executive director of the NCAA from

1951-88, pushed the terms “amateurism” and “student athlete” to every institution.

The definition of an amateur is a person who engages in a study, sport, or other activity for pleasure rather than for financial benefit or professional reasons, and Byers wanted everyone to live by this code. Everyone should be playing just for the pure love of the game, as an adolescent or young teenager should.

The NCAA labeled itself as a non-profit organization, and required everyone else that falls under their junction should abide by it also.

However what a lot of student athletes were realizing was that for all their hard work and publicity they were bringing to their school they weren’t getting anything back. All they got was high-five from fellow students, and congrats from faculty and staff, but if you worked for something wouldn’t you want to see something back for your hard work?

The luxury of having a scholarship is becoming more of job, than an opportunity. Because of the hefty amount of rules athletes have to agree to, the only people that are benefiting from this situation are the NCAA, and the institutions along with the faculty and staff.

Student-athletes are the major reason why college jerseys are being sold off the wall in stores, why universities are getting TV deals, and finally why the athletic departments are getting major shoe deals to supply their athletes.

At the end of the day athletes go back to their dorm hungry because the cafeteria is closed, and a coach can’t supply them with food because it goes against this “amateur code.”

If an athlete needed to buy some groceries, or maybe even just wanted to see a movie he/she cannot accept any gains or benefits, so then what’s the luxury of having a scholarship if you’re working with no results, or working without even able to feed yourself properly so you can preform at a high level. Sounds a lot more like slave work to many athletes, as if they are signing their lives away when they sign those scholarship papers.

This is still an ongoing debate between the NCAA and players associations, and is a very sensitive issue. Players should definitely get compensated some how for the amount of work they do and publicity they give their school. How long will the NCAA and these terms will be held up, crutching on the terms amateurism and student athlete.