Kids ought to be paid in some fashion. And simply saying "scholarships" are the offset is not accurate or reasonable. Scholarships are a formality of business. It's an exchange of service. They school is "paying you" the cost of the education. And they are still making money on that. If tuition is $25k/year is the tuition for a year, their costs are far less. They make money on that. It's simple numbers.
Speaking as a former NCAA (D1) baseball player, even on scholarship, you are poor (and often poorer than most). Let's be clear, most kids dont' pay their own way. Their costs are usually the burden of parents. So, even while being provided a scholarship, you still have other expenses (books/supplies which can be costly of course). And the end result was that I had litterally had no money in my pocket. My food choices were pretty much limited to what was being served in the cafeteria which was often an issue when practice/game schedules conflicted with the hours the cafe was open.
Above this, given the expectations of your time to the sport, you literally didn't have time to work. One off-season, I tried to find a part time job (just for spending money) but couldn't find employment given my requirements at school. Offseasons were bogged down with training/weights and study hall. Preseason was two-a-day practices, weights/training and study hall. In season was a mess of practices (on off days), weights and a rigorous travel schedule.
For many of these kids, they are litterally school poor. There is no money to take a girl out on a date. There is no money to eat off campus. There is no money to buy a new pair of jeans/shoes. And God forbid you push back on the sport and demand more time ......... then you run the risk of putting your scholarship at risk.
Keep in mind, while some kids have the ability to work/bank some money in the summer, for some, summers are tied up playing summer leagues where you are often away from home (living with a foster family) where you earn enough of a per diem to pay for your dinner.
Something needs to be done. I've always thought it should be proportional to the amount of time you are expected to provide to your team (inclusive of ALL activities). Pay could/should be minimal but it's not unreasonable to think that a kid should be able to have $20 in his pocket to pay for gas or to take his GF to dinner every now and again.
Aside from this, there ought to be some additional consideration for continued education. It is very tough to apply yourself on the education front (as you should) while being forced to apply yourself on the field at the same time.
Don't get me wrong, it's still a gift to be able to receive an education for a skillset/talent you are, in sense, born with (and isn't available to everyone); however, something needs to be done to suppliment people who are in this position. And the fact is, the NCAA makes a killing from these kids for services that aren't the most condusive to their education. It needs to be a bit more balanced.
