Free tuition? Check. Free room and board? You got it. Free books? Bingo. Free meal plan? Yep. Free time? Not so much, and here’s where the water works come into play.
If I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a student-athlete complain about their lives, well, I’d have somewhere between 20 and 30 bucks.
But that is a small fortune to a struggling college student like me who actually has to pay for college.
I constantly hear, “Oh, we don’t have any free time” or “We should really be getting paid for what we do.” My thoughts are: “Allow me to get a violin to play a sad tune for your sorrows and a bucket to catch your tears.”
You guys work hard and bring a lot of money to the school. Yeah, I get it. But is having everything paid for not enough for y’all? And, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but professionals get paid, not students.
Technically, college sports are an extracurricular activity.
So as long as that is the case, Charles Manson has a better shot at getting out of jail and becoming a guidance counselor than student-athletes have at getting paid.
I understand that every athlete doesn’t get a full-ride scholarship but still has to put in the same work as the athletes who do. I can understand their struggle, so they get a pass.
As for the people who do get a full-ride, it doesn’t get any better than that, but you still manage to complain. Full-ride means you don’t have to pay anything back.
You have no worries about paying back student loans or paying anything out of pocket. That alone should take away any urge to complain, but I guess that won’t truly be appreciated until you get out of school.
As a college student who has taken out enough loans to buy a small island, I would trade this life for a student athlete’s life any day.
Athletes get free schooling to do something that they actually love to do. They get paid to workout and play a game.
Is that not the good life or what? Most people could only dream of getting paid for doing something they love to do.
Think about it, some people workout two or three times a day just because that’s what they like to do, and they get nothing except personal satisfaction. Athletes do that and get free schooling. That sounds a lot like beating the system to me.
And as far as this whole “no free time” thing, there have been plenty of instances where I’ve been out at the mall or social event or something like that and seen some athletes from my school. So the truth is clearly being stretched somewhere.
Maybe it’s different on the outside looking in, but from what I see, it appears that the grass is much greener on the other side.
I would much rather go to sleep at night worrying about getting up for a 6 a.m. workout than worrying about how many organs I’m going to have to sell to pay off my student loans.
Let’s face it, the pros of being a college athlete far outweigh the cons. You guys have it made.
So (wo)man up, stop whining and worry about the things you should actually be concerned about, like winning.