The National College Players association reported that 86 percent of college athletes on scholarships live below the poverty line. If an NCAA athlete could be compensated for their time training and performing as an athlete, it would reduce a great burden for a majority of families. .
As an athlete, through-out my life I have learned how to balance my school work as well as my sports. Being a part of the athletic program in college I have found that it is much more difficult to balance these two things on a daily basis. My time has become more limited when trying to do school work because I also have to juggle a job along with the 40 hours a week I commit to my sports. Working a job simply to make ends meet and trying to complete hours of homework in just a few leaves me with a consistently hectic schedule. Sometimes finding time to take care of other responsibilities like changing a headlight, are put aside because the only time I can even find to do something like that is at night, when no stores are open. Finding a few hours in order to complete school work that exceeds the expectations of the teachers is often difficult. Even being on scholarship doesn't help as much as someone would think. Even though I have a scholarship, it does not cover the full cost of my school education. I have to come up with the money to pay for half of my education which means taking out loans just to play for the school. I don't think athletes should have to worry about paying loans off when they are out of school because my parents have put countless amounts of money into me playing for a club that was going to get me to play college ball since my family cannot really afford to send me to college without the scholarship. If athletes received money during their time at the school, the money could potentially be helping them pay for their school right out, rather than paying the interest fees on all of the loans further down the line.