Since higher education in the United States costs a significant amount of money, scholarships that fully or partially cover the cost of education can be of huge help to students. In addition, for an educational facility, it is an excellent way to attract young people who distinguished themselves in the sports field at school. In the future, athletes will be able to glorify their alma mater by means of their sports success. However, sometimes a university cannot offer the full equilibrium wage due to several reasons. For instance, in this particular case, the educational facility cannot provide the equilibrium wage of 40,000$ because of National Collegiate Athletic Association rules. According to researchers, these regulations state that “the athlete cannot be paid the difference between his higher equilibrium wage and the dollar amount of his full scholarship” (Arnold, 2015, p. 145). The reason for this is that the organization considers young athletes as amateurs and, therefore, they cannot be paid for their supposed work even if they are successful.
At the same time, a student can still receive 22,000$, which covers the tuition. Nevertheless, the university gains financial profit at the expense of the athletes’ work because these students increase the revenue by playing games. In addition, paying college football players will cause universities to go into a bitter betting war as they attract recruits. In this case, a problem arises where a potential student may question if applying to the university worth it. For this reason, a university would have to apply several strategies that could lure the athlete into choosing their school over the other ones.
For instance, the administration of the school might use its reputation in order to attract lure the college athlete. The university may lure them with promises of potential success in their future careers that can be possible with acquiring the degree from this particular educational facility. The reputation of a higher education institution can be considered a public assessment. In other words, it is an opinion about the university, which is created under the influence of various factors of its external and internal environment. Despite the fact that the reputation of a university is subjective to some extent, its importance is constantly increasing in the higher education and job market. A good name of the school helps it to attract talented students and professors, as well as financial investment from sponsors. However, this measure is not applicable to every educational facility since there is a risk that another school can be better than another. For this reason, even though this measure is appropriate, its effectiveness is doubtful.
Another method is that a university can offer students other perks aside from providing education, degree, and financial help. They can include lectures from famous names of different industries, concerts, fitness centers, student clubs, which are just a few additional benefits that educational facilities usually propose. All these conveniences can be freely used by school athletes, even if they are not offered the full equilibrium wage. Schools can also offer unique benefits such as private gyms for sports teams, top coaches, nutritionists, medical care, customized meal plans, free gear, and sportswear. The university also offers student-athletes the opportunity to play competitive games in large stadiums filled with loyal fans, allowing them to gain media attention and make a name for themselves. In this way, even though student-athletes are not paid for their work financially, their efforts are compensated, which can be a good argument in choosing a school over another.
Reference
Arnold, R. A. (2015). Macroeconomics. Cengage Learning.