Tuition stresses out any person who chooses to attend college. Because of this stress, many people try to obtain scholarships to help pay for the costs. While academics may be a common category of scholarships, there are also athletic scholarships. In NCAA’s Divisions I and II, there is over $36,000 given to more than 180,000 student-athletes.
While scholarships can offer a big help to student-athletes financially, these aids are often given out recklessly and end up burdening colleges and students. They are given out to the wrong students which wastes resources and takes away time from schools could be using on academically strong students.
When trying to obtain scholarships, there are different factors that go into picking out the recipient. There is a noticeable difference in the qualities needed by athletic and academic scholarships. Athletic scholarships rely heavily on the opportunities a student has experienced. Student-athletes need to maintain a healthy and strong body, which is dependent on the food their family eats. They also need to have the ability to work out which means having the money and transportation to get to a gym. These privileges are given to student-athletes based on the income of their parents. People who do not have the advantage of a financially stable household are more likely to end up unable to participate in sports. Their chances of earning an athletic scholarship decreases greatly. Academic scholarships are more likely to be given out to any type of student with any background. It’s much easier to become a better student than a better athlete because of the help that mentors and online resources provide. Academic scholarships are also built on the fact that a student is a hardworking individual. To get the grades an academic scholarship would want, a student would have to be hardworking and persistent with their schoolwork. Therefore, academic scholarships are based more on the individual while athletic scholarships are determined by the family and opportunities a person comes from.
Because athletic scholarships are given to people based on their physical abilities rather than academic powers, there is a chance these students will not have the knowledge they should. They end up lacking the necessary academic background to thrive in a college environment, which wastes not only the student’s time but also the school’s and teachers’ time. A student who struggles in college will fall behind academically which could also keep them from playing the sports they were originally interested in. The school is then losing out on a player, and they would also be supplying this student with academic resources as well as living necessities. This takes away from the money and resources that could be used on other students who the foundation of being good students.
Colleges are also meant to help create well-rounded and influential individuals. Their goal as a secondary school is to help people become better functional citizens who can properly supply the world with solutions. Although college sports are a form of entertainment, sports are not a part of any real-world dilemma. There is no need for college to have sports besides entertainment. College is meant to have a focus on academics and making sure that intellectuals thrive in life. There is no reason that colleges should be providing an overwhelming amount of support to college athletes.
Although athletic scholarships are a helpful aid to college athletes, there must be some regulation on how scholarships are received. If a student-athlete is being considered for an athletic scholarship then they should meet the academic standards of the college as well. Otherwise, college athletes could find themselves falling behind in school, and they will waste the resources given to them.
