Thank You for Participating
We had a fantastic run of talented writers this year submitting their entries for the Vegas Odds Scholarship and are happy to announce the winner Megan from Pennsylvania. She has kindly allowed us to show her brilliantly-written and well-researched article. Well done, Megan!
Are College Athletes Remunerated Fairly?
For a long time, being a university or college athlete in the United States was like being in a full-time job. The only difference is that the remuneration, if any, was not even close to what would be considered to be fair. For many colleges, the standard form of remuneration is a “free” college education – this is great as it makes it possible for students with exceptional athletic abilities to gain access to education that they would have otherwise not been able to afford.
However, in addition to being subjected to extensive and exhausting training followed by long game days, they also have to balance everything out to ensure their schoolwork does not suffer. To make it even worse, their participation in sporting activities brings their institutions significant amounts of profit (Campbell, 2020) from endorsements, admission fees to the sporting events, sponsorship deals, and broadcasting deals. Across a majority of states, the athletes do not get any share of these profits.
There has been a lot of debate (Zema, 2020) regarding the issue of whether or not athletes should be compensated but one thing is for sure – some sort of change is needed. We cannot deny that the scholarships are very valuable in as far as compensation is concerned but using this against athletes is definitely not fair, to say the least. In the words of Sean Tierney (Agree to disagree: Should student athletes be paid? – The Pitt News, 2020), it is “not a free pass” for the colleges to use the athletes for free labor while pretty from their blood, sweat, and tears.
Where We Are At
No name is as synonymous with college athletic as National College Athletics Association (NCAA) and it has, over the past few years, been under fire for its rules that have made it incredibly difficult for players to be compensated for their work. Thankfully, the association has gradually been warming up to the idea of compensation for athletes which is something to rejoice at.
After several failed attempts for reforms in college athletics, a huge milestone was recently reached when the state of California passed the famed Fair Pay to Play Act (Berkowitz, 2020). While initially opposed to it, the NCAA has since changed its stance and is now forming a framework that will allow for fair remuneration.
Following in California’s Footsteps
It would seem like the NCAA needed to be nudged in order to make certain considerations regarding the issue and California’s move was one of these nudges. Fortunately, the move may have triggered a chain reaction of sorts and several other states are already considering reforms that will allow athletes to get a share of the profits received from the sporting activities that they participate in.
Among the state that similar initiatives are being considered are South Carolina, Colorado, and New York. These are just a few of the states where the rather oppressive regime of unfair remuneration is slowly being pushed out. Needless to say, there is still a lot that needs to be done before everything can be said to be acceptable. It is a gradual process that is likely to involve at least a little back and forth (jacksonville.com. 2020.), as well as a lot of studies before recommendations of the best frameworks, are made. Still, it has been a long time coming.
Sources
Campbell, A., 2020. Free Labor From College Athletes May Soon Come To An End. [online] Vox. Available at: https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/10/3/20896738/california-fair-pay-to-play-act-college-athletes [Accessed 26 June 2020].
Zema, P., 2020. Should Student-Athletes Be Paid?. [online] Taylor & Francis. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17511321.2018.1465112?scroll=top&needAccess=true&journalCode=rsep20 [Accessed 26 June 2020].
The Pitt News. 2020. Agree To Disagree: Should Student Athletes Be Paid? – The Pitt News. [online] Available at: https://pittnews.com/article/150198/sports/agree-to-disagree-should-student-athletes-be-paid/ [Accessed 26 June 2020].
Berkowitz, S., 2020. [online] Usatoday.com. Available at: https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2019/09/30/college-sports-california-governor-signs-image-and-likeness-bill/2367426001/ [Accessed 26 June 2020].
jacksonville.com. 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.jacksonville.com/article/20130929/NEWS/801245808 [Accessed 26 June 2020].
Vegas Odds Scholarship Program
Education is at the heart of a meaningful future. Therefore, we have set out to help talented students hone their literacy and technical skills by offering them an opportunity to participate in a scholarship contest that will test a student’s abilities to research, collate relevant data and deliver fact-based statements. While some students struggle to attend senior years or progress to colleges due to financial and educational hurdles, we have decided to nurture talent and help students find a realization field which holds an immense potential in terms of economic and educational benefit.
Vegas Odds mission is to foster talented individuals who love sports and keep a close eye on the rapid changes all major leagues are experiencing today. Ultimately, we seek to provide a scholarship that will help students pursue a degree, cover living expenses or acquire school books and other necessities for participating in the educational process. We have set clear evaluation criteria to allow students participate in our scholarship offer. Moving forward, you will familiarize yourself with the minimum requirements for applying, evaluation procedure, the amount of the award as well as the deadline and announcing winners.
Scholarship Eligibility
- Accepted by or currently attending an accredited college as a full-time undergraduate or graduate student in the United States.
- Minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 (or the equivalent).
- Write a short essay on 'Are College Athletes Remunerated Fairly?'.
- The essay must be free of the student’s own original work.
- All applications should be sent to [email protected] in a .doc or .docx format only. PDFs or Link to Google Docs will not be accepted.
- The winner will be contacted via e-mail and must respond within 5 days in order to accept the reward. If no response is sent back, the scholarship award will be assigned to another participant.
- Please refrain from any form of plagiarism. We insist on original work which has to be the result of your knowledge on a given topic rather than rephrasing existing materials.
Evaluation Process:
Judges will evaluate essays based on originality, creativity, grammatical accuracy, and ability to inspire others. Rather than looking at specific criteria, judges will focus on the essay in its entirety, probing the originality of the topic, its ability to engage the reader and the general structure of the submission.
Scholarship Amount Details:
The award applies to a single winner who will receive $1000 which can be used on any of the following school expenses: tuition, fees, books, and on-campus room and board.
Scholarship Deadline and Winner Announcement:
The winner will be announced on June 30, 2020 and awarded the full amount of $1000 in a single instalment. The latest date you can submit your essay is June 15, 2020. We are looking forward reading your best essays.
Out Privacy Policy
NOTE: Vegas Odds’ Privacy Policy for all scholarship applicant’s submissions ensures that personal information will not be shared and is for our own internal use only. No information collected during this process will be given to third parties. Aside from this use, we reserve the right to use your submission as we see fit.