It is a recognized fact that college graduates earn an average of fifty-five percent more than non-graduates. As this pertains to our student athletes we, as a society, must emphasize the importance of making themselves competitive and ensuring that they acquire skills, outside the sports arena, that will compliment a chosen career field. .
The majority of student athletes will never play in a professional setting and thusly will not earn the substantial salaries professional athletes do (estimates show as high as ninety percent of student athletes never participate professionally). To substantiate this point follow the path of the Arkansas men's basketball team. During the 1994 through 1997 seasons not a single player completed their graduation requirements, and thusly, none of them received a college degree. The team's roster consisted of thirteen players whom were all attending the university on fully paid sports scholarship. In 1997 the team won the collegiate sports highest award, the Division One Basketball Tournament Championship. That team consisted of six seniors, three juniors, and the remaining were underclassmen. At the conclusion of the season seven players, six seniors and one junior, made themselves eligible for the NBA draft. Only one of those players was drafted and he was later released before he played a single professional game. To this date, none of those players consider themselves successful and none of them are earning more than 15,000 dollars annually. For the ones who are employed they are all working labor intensive, low-skill blue-collar jobs. Many have turned to drugs and crime and one player even attempted suicide.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is beginning to realize the massiveness of this problem, and, as of recently, discussions are being presented in regard to compensating college athletes monetarily. Their proposal is being suggested to combat the influx of athletes leaving school early and to give the athletes a reason to complete their education.
