What do college athletes get for all of the effort put forth in competing in a sport? They work hard and spend a lot of time in it. It is their job to be as good as they can be and they do not have time for anything else. Because they work so hard, they should be compensated for the hard work, revenue, and the reputation he or she gives the school or university. The athletes produce revenue for the school they attend but do not receive anything in return besides a scholarship. A scholarship does not pay for food and resources though. Playing a sport at a school is really like a full time job and they treat it as so. With all of the stress and pressure that comes with a competitive sport, not knowing if you are going to have enough money to eat later should not be on their mind. Athletes have no time in between all of the practices, games, meetings, schoolwork, and traveling to balance a job on top of that. College athletes should be considered employees and receive a portion of the money that is earned through coaches or the school’s revenue. When you talk about big schools like Alabama, Tennessee, and Kentucky, sports like basketball and football bring in millions of dollars every year. This is because the athletes work so hard every day to produce the games that viewers enjoy watching. “The colleges provide the players with expert coaching and medical care as well as the opportunity to get an education” (Bowen 2). That might be true, but the expert coaching and medical care should be given regardless because of how much those practitioners make anyway. Colleges will do anything to make money off of these athletes and half of the time do not even care about the athlete’s health. If an athlete is on a full scholarship and gets hurt, they will lose their scholarship and be left with nothing. So what was the point in giving the university’s team all your time and effort? To decide whether or not college athletes should be paid is a tough side to choose. Federal labor laws might show that athletes are not employees. But on the other hand, most athletes will work much harder than employees. While working as hard as they can to perform well in games, they also have to study and make sure to maintain a good GPA.