Athletic Scholarships: Who Wins?

            
             Athletic Scholarships are designed to support physically gifted and talented students. This simple description makes it difficult to envision the problems associated with athletic scholarships, but recently, athletic scholarships and the programs linked with them have become quite controversial. In spite of this controversy, athletic scholarships should be retained, but college athletic programs should be revamped to de-emphasize winning at all costs and to ensure that all student athletes are treated fairly.
             College athletic programs are certainly valuable. These programs increase school spirit and help to create a sense of community. They also help to raise money: winning teams spark alumni contributions, and athletic events raise funds through ticket sales. In addition, athletic programs - like programs in the performing arts and music - help to provide a rewarding, balanced education for all students. Student athletes make important academic, social, and cultural contributions to their schools and thus enrich the college experience for others. Finally, without athletic scholarships, many students would not be able to attend college because, as Allen Sanoff observes, the aid for which many economically deprived students athletes are eligible does not cover the expense of a college education the way athletic scholarships do (par. 5).
             Despite their obvious advantages, college athletic programs have problems. First, not all athletes "or all programs "are valued equally. On many campuses money, equipment, and facilities have traditionally been allotted to football and basketball at the expense of less visible sports such as swimming, tennis, and field hockey. Men's sports have been given a disproportionate amount of support, and "winning- teams and coaches have been compensated accordingly. In fact, according to Sue M. Durrant, until recently it was not unusual for women's teams to use "hand-me-down- gear while men's teams played with new "state of the art- equipment or for women's teams to travel by bus while men's teams traveled by plane (60).