A hot topic in the sports world today concerns whether college student-athletes should be paid  or not.

Athletes at the college level are still students who are pursuing an education and a career path. While it is true that most of them are pursuing a career path of becoming professional sports players, in many instances that does not pan out.

This is why athletes should be focusing more on their schooling, finding  jobs and interning at places that meet their qualifications, instead of spending all of their time trying to become that three percent who make it to the major leagues.

According to a 2010 student-athlete report by the NCAA, there are nearly 70,000 Division 1 football players, of which there are only about 250 draftees a year, meaning about 3 percent of all college football players will make it to the NFL.

Considering the amount of wear and tear on their bodies, as well as the dedication and time it takes to be an athlete, it’s debatable whether a scholarship is adequate compensation.

Another thing to be taken into consideration is that not all college athletes, in fact very few are there on scholarships or full rides. For those who have to pay for school, room, board and food, there is very little, if any money to spend on themselves.

On the other hand, sports are just an extra-curricular activity regardless of the level and should be treated as such even though they are a huge part of a school’s revenue.

College athletes are not going to school to learn how to play sports at the professional level; they are going to learn the skills they will need in life.

If athletes put as much effort into schooling as sports, society would have more doctors, eco-friendly entrepreneurs, electronic engineers and other professionals needed by our society.

Instead we are left with cognitively and perceptually impaired college students.

If athletes start getting paid at the college level, they will stop working towards their careers and become complacent in their role of college athlete and see no reason to continue to progress or work towards the goals and ambitions they had set earlier in life.