To begin this project I considered multiple topics such as, whether collegiate athletes should be paid or not, whether or not marijuana should be legalized in the United States, and whether or not college basketball players should be required to stay longer than just one year before turning professional.  The topics on marijuana and college basketball provided an insufficient amount of sources and I wasn't as interested in learning about that as I was with the topic of paying college athletes.  Rather than this being just a topic, it's been a national problem that all major universities and the NCAA have been debating about and trying to solve for some time now.  It's an intriguing problem for many Americans involved in college sports and has large impacts on the families of the athletes, donors, athletic departments, and the schools.  I chose this topic due to the fact that one day I would like to work for a college athletic department and that it would be interesting to see if the landscape of college athletics changes drastically or not.  In my eyes, the question of whether collegiate athletes should be paid or not is definitely viewed as a controversial problem in which a compromise needs to be achieved.

Originally the question that crossed my mind was "should college athletes be paid" and many people believe that they should be.  But I wanted to know why people thought that and how much money these athletes should receive. This research topic draws my attention because I would like to eventually work in college athletics one day and this decision would have an effect on my profession.  The effect simply may be neutral towards those working in college athletic departments, for they wouldn't have any pay changes or have their job effected.  I am also just very interested in sports and find this topic important to modern day college athletics.  I believe that the quality of college sports would be greater and last longer because there would be an incentive for college athletes to stay in school for more than one year.  Rather than opt out after their freshman year to go professional in their respective sport, such as many college basketball players do.  This question has a bit of a personal effect on me as well, but only because my girlfriend who plays college volleyball would be affected directly by the decision of the NCAA.  

Many of the sources that I was able to find and use for this research project supported the idea of paying college athletes a bit of spending money.  And it is asked why these athletes shouldn't be allowed to receive gifts or something and in these articles, it includes examples of former college (now professional) athletes getting in trouble for receiving small gifts. Multiple solutions to this problem are also presented in these articles and they all suggest that athletes should receive a bit of a stipend to spend on the weekends and the punishment for receiving a gift every now and then should not be so serious or there shouldn't be any punishment at all.  These changes would relieve less fortunate families of the stress of making sure that their child is fed well and clothed. Because even with the scholarships some kids still lack food and proper clothing.  It would make these student athletes happier to be sacrificing so much to possibly have a future in the pros.  The authors of these articles are all either credible analysts of college or pro sports or well-known sports journalists.  They are credible and knowledgeable of all sports and the minor details that go into sports.  I do not believe that any of them have a specific bias towards this topic due to the fact that none of them would be effected by the final decision.  I do believe that in their articles they make valid points supporting the pay of college athletes and that they would like to see them make a little extra considering all that these athletes do for their respective schools.  

Although, many are in favor for the payment of college athletes, the NCAA heavily opposes the idea.  The NCAA believes in complete amateurism within college athletics and in order to achieve that the payment of college athletes should not happen.  Many adminastrators are against the idea as well.  Some fear that it will create problems within the athletic department and other teams will demand fair payment.  The is also fear of athletes demanding more pay once they get a little taste of it.  These changes could be beneficial, but there are also real reasons as to why college athletes have never been paid.  

This question can be argued because this is a national issue concerning almost everyone involved in college athletics.  It is a hot topic due to the fact that there have been many complaints and pleas from student athletes and their families about paying them.  All of my sources and the authors agree that there is no need to pay them thousands of dollars, for they want to keep it relatively amateur.  However, they support the ideas of these athletes being able to receive small stipends and gifts because they do bring the fans to the games and to the school.  Instead of simply asking should college athletes be paid, maybe we can start asking if they deserve stipends throughout the year, or should they be able to get money from a certain percentage of sales from gear and jerseys.  These may be better questions to focus on rather than just paying them a few grand each year.
