NCAA Needs to Do More Than Increase Scholarships by $2,000

The NCAA is a joke.

When you look at the daily changing landscape of conference realignment based mostly on revenue, the NCAA is looking more like a pyramid scheme than a non-profit association. All of the folks at the top are bringing in millions of dollars in revenue while the players are not seeing their fair share.

Their Division-I Board of Directors approved for conference to add more money and multiple years to scholarship offers. I am sure there were some congratulatory high-fives and motivational emails going around the NCAA and its member institutions following the announcement. It is now up to the conferences to vote on adding $2,000 in spending money to the scholarships.

Therein lies the problem.

Assuming you only count 10 months of the year for time that athletes are on campus, that is $200 per month, or $50 per week. We are in the year 2011 and expect college students to be able to live off of that pitiful amount of money? That will barely fill a car with gas.

C’mon man.

There has to be a way for student-athletes to make money. It does not have to come from the school or the NCAA.

Do not give me the excuse that the players are getting a free education and that is good enough. They are on one-year scholarships and some of them are playing for coaches making millions of dollars per year.

My suggestion is that the NCAA creates a program that starts at $200 per month as a freshman and grows to $500 per month as a senior. This way a player can get some money and the players that are successfully matriculating can receive an increase in their stipend as the student-athlete progresses for a maximum of five years. 

Also, loosen the restrictions for student-athletes to work. Who cares if they get paid more than other employees in the same position? As long as the proper tax documentation for that job is filled out let the player, employer and IRS fight that battle. You can still make it unacceptable for cash gifts and improper benefits but let them at least work a job.

The rules and regulations that govern college athletics are antiquated and ludicrous and need to be changed now.

I was not a college athlete, unless you want to count my many intramurals highlight films. I went to school on an ROTC scholarship that covered tuition, books, room and board, and had a tiered stipend. My senior year I received $400 a month stipend as part of my scholarship and still needed to work in order to have money to spend.

I spent about 20 hours per week doing cadet activities outside of class, which is about the same amount of time some athletes practice. The difference is that my activities did not generate any revenue for the university and I had the ability to work to supplement my financial needs above the scholarship alone.

Student-athletes should have the same opportunities as other students. Until the NCAA puts the needs of its student-athletes over financial greed, the problem will not be solved.

Jamal Wilburg is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report.

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