Another fine piece of bird cage liner by Bud. Whether one agrees or disagrees with his sentiment, Bud really lost out on what could have caused some real analysis and thought.
Real Costs:
Tution
Board
Books
Lab fees
Gear (not including safety equipment, uniforms, footwear, but the casual gear issued to players)
Real Hours:
Class attendance (cough, cough SEC, cough)
Practice
Film study
"Extra" workouts
Study
Then add in the periphery costs and hours.
Since SU costs $60K annually (Bud's assertion), we can use this as a true cost of attendance at every school. recall that State schools are/were funded by the State to keep tuition down. If State U's had to pay their own way for everything, the costs would be similar enough for a study.
How many 18-22 year old people earn $60K annually (tax free, too!)? How many people can turn natural talent into a cash boom that will lay the foundation for their remainder of their life (not limited to kids going pro, but does include the kids that earn their degrees)?
Personal Income: PINC-02 Using the
18 Years and Over [<1.0 MB] table, the median income for all of the US in 2015 was $45,281 per every worker 18 and over.
The number increases for males when separated and shrinks for women. However, to be completely fair and assuming Title IX will have some teeth in Congress, the ladies will be included in any payroll scheme, as will all athletes.
That said, each student is already ahead of the average US worker by at least 33% base on tuition alone. Some will argue the hourly pay; however, these are college students, the majority of which will end up in salaried positions where hourly wages are not the norm. Besides, in the professional world, if we want extra knowledge (school) we generally do that on our time unless the business wants to allow work hours for study (usually directly related courses).
And this is just the starting point of this debate.
See, Bud, you could have stirred up a hornet's nest if you only did a little work.
*Disclaimer, I am ambivalent about paying players so long as academics are strictly enforced (see SEC, UNC and NCAA failure to do its job). Please don't try to argue with me on this, argue with each other, that's fine, but I simply do not care one way or the other. My only wish is that academics would be enforced. I am very glad to see that SU does not sacrifice its mission to be like other schools.
