Reflecting on the Shame of College Sports: Should NCAA Div 1 Basketball and Football players get paid?

The topic on paying college athletes has been a serious debate for a significantly long time now. So should we pay college athletes or not? Well ultimately it is your decision on whether or not we should pay them.  There are strong arguments on both sides. So what if we pay them, what's the big deal? Well the NCAA mostly does not want to pay college athletes because of the concept of amateurism. According to the NCAA, amateurism is one of the main reasons why college sports are so popular with fans. Not only that, but many schools will argue that they do not have the extra money to spend $2000 on each athlete for spending money. Also, many sports such as lacrosse, do not generate nearly as much money as football and it would be hard to provide these athletes with money. If colleges were allowed to pay their athletes, colleges would get their recruits based on how much money they were going to give. There is also the argument that many of these athletes have not matured yet mentally and would just spend the money immediately and not save it. They are young athletes and the school already pays for their education, housing, food, and other supplies. We do not need to give them extra money if the school is already providing them with everything.
However, there are also many arguments supporting the idea of paying college athletes.  Colleges generate hundreds of millions of dollars from college sports such as football and basketball. Some people ask why aren't athletes receiving a piece of this profit? They are the ones putting their bodies on the line and risking their health so the school can profit. Not only that, but when people say that athletes are given enough with a free education, others will argue they need money for basic things like gas, cloths, food, and etc. Athletes do not have time to get a job like other students because the sport they participate in takes up so much time already. If an athlete is hurt, often times they are left with nothing. No education and no money but instead a huge pile of medical bills. There is so much corruption in college sports at the moment and most of these problems would go away if colleges were allowed to pay their athletes.
In my personal opinion I think college athletes should be paid but there has to be a lot of restrictions. I do not like the idea of giving an athlete more money after his or her education, housing, food on campus, and anything else on campus is completely paid for. Just like what Hilgenberg says while getting interviewed by Jerry Carino for the USA today article, "Athletes, administrators debate scholarship stipends," however not everyone will live on campus and therefore will not be eating campus food and will most likely have a car that needs gas. I support the idea of providing these athletes with money so they can provide for themselves. I do not agree with giving them "a piece of the pie" because the college itself is making so much money. These athletes are there for school and their sport. Which ever one they put first is up to them, but they are not there to get paid for playing football. Just like every other college student, they do not get paid for going to school. You go to college to receive an education and to increase your chances at being successful in the future. Some college athletes will perform so they have a chance to go to the pros.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2013/09/28/athletes-administrators-debate-ncaa-scholarship-stipends/2890117/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/01/magazine/lets-start-paying-college-athletes.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0