comment: >
  
  I've been saying this for years. I don't have the athletic ability or the smarts other people have. To get the benefit of free tuition I had to spend years in the Army....and now there's the whole NIL thing....I feel like it's ruining college athletics.
context: I think the issue is academic scholarships don't offer 4 year rides not that athletic scholarships do >
  
  Money talks. Athletes make a good return percentage. >
  
  Short term for the universities? Yes. Long term for society? Less so. >
  
  But which of those is the college going to invest in? It'd be great if we had more accessible education but as long as colleges run as a business they won't subsidise improving the world >
  
  Agreed. I don't get why people assume businesses care about you as an individual person. Their job is to make money. 
  Anytime they say they care about you should be considered a lie and a marketing tactic. >
  
  Money still makes the world go round tho and they bring it in for the university so they earn the scholarships >
  
  Because your book worms don't make money unlike athletes who they can charge tickets food merch etc >
  
  I think you fundamentally misunderstand how athletic scholarships work, they aren’t 4 year “rides”, they are 1yr scholarships that have to be renewed every year by the university. This sets up a power imbalance between the school and the athlete and scholarships can be pulled or not renewed for anything, including injury. >
  
  This is the answer. >
  
  The school does that because they make a massive return on those students >
  
  Because athletes are the people that make the school a lot of money. So it only makes sense that they'd get more direct funding, because having better athletics means more money to go around for everyone else (as an example, in the US football profits cover most of the scholarships for less popular sports, giving tons of kids opportunities they might not have otherwise). >
  
  I may be wrong but I’ve noticed a trend in most schools where the teachers praise the “cool, and popular” athletes and ignore everyone else. It’s obvious and a great example of this is in my school when the teachers thought it was a good idea to bring all 500+ students into the gymnasium just to 5 football players play musical chairs. They of course announced school changes but it was shitty of them to make us watch fucking musical chairs with all the popular kids. >
  
  It’s a trend that’s been going on for decades. >
  
  Actually i think this USA thing, in Europe sports scholarships aren't that big of a deal or only apply to sport related degrees. The biggest scholarships are given  in the name of  academic excellence. All that "but athletes make  money" , only makes sense in a country were education is focused on economic profit rather than academics. It always amazes me to see this differences and how much they affect the people's mentality. >
  
  Yeah but to be fair, college sports is a huge deal to us here. Especially in the south where college football is king. We go wild over that shit lol >
  
  Yeahh, not gonna lie every time i saw those big football events in the movies  I was jealous it looks so fun, college here is kind of mid ( at least in my experience, it could be because I'm on engineering and the only fun i experience is going to another campus library for a change) >
  
  If you ever visit the US, please come to the south during college football season. Go to a night game at LSU. I'm obviously biased since I'm a huge fan, but I've been to other stadiums and nothing has matched Death Valley on a Saturday night. Not only will you get to experience the game atmosphere, the tailgating is S tier. You'll be fed the best food you've ever had by a bunch of drunk Cajuns who just wanna have a great time. >
  
  Thanks a lot for the recommendation! I will if i have the opportunity >
  
  We'll be happy to have you if you ever come over! >
  
  I mean it’s such a small percentage of athletes, it’s million dollars of advertising and revenue from teams being good and they also have to keep up academic standards ON TOP of performing in sports. With academic scholarships it’s based on what you already do, not independent on the field you study in. And they are also out of seperate accounts from the college so it’s telling someone how to spend their money >
  
  Well how much money do you bring into the university? Athleletics bring in a lot of money. >
  
  If smarts and things like community service can help get you free money why can’t athletics? >
  
  The college I attend probably wouldn't be able to operate if it weren't for the money and students that the sports program brings in. I wholeheartedly agree there should be more access to education, especially for 'true academics', but I wouldn't want to be taking opportunities away from others >
  
  How much money do you make the university? >
  
  I just feel that it's sad that college now care more about making money and having entertainment then actually being a place of education, I feel that college would want more scholars than entertainers. >
  
  Education isn’t free and they aren’t infinite money sources. When they give out scholarships they’re hoping that the recipient will turn into a very successful person in heir field, someone whose name you’d recognise. They are more likely to get a widely recognised athlete with a scholarship than a widely recognised academic. 
  Recognisable people bring in more students which gives the college more money which allows it to educate more people. In the long run the athlete is a safer investment than the academic, and it causes more academics in general. >
  
  Athletic scholarships are yearly. They can and are revoked. I don’t think you know what you’re talking about >
  
  If only athletics didn’t make millions AND MILLIONS of dollars for the school. >
  
  1000000% agree fuck sports waste of money >
  
  but sure are a generator of money. >
  
  Gee thanks I didn’t know that caption obvious >
  
  College is a business first. They want booster money and ticket sales. Nobody’s gonna pay money to watch you read good. >
  
  You definitely have a point, but I don’t believe this is an unpopular opinion.  I think posts should at least explain why this is unpopular before proceeding >
  
  Welcome to earth. >
  
  Welcome to the US you mean.. >
  
  They make a lot of money for the school. You don’t. >
  
  No. You misunderstand entirely. I don’t desire to make a lot of money and I went to school mainly for the joy of learning. OP is the one upset about money. He thinks he deserves to be at college more than the athletes whose efforts are effectively subsidizing his education. And I’m not American. >
  
  Eh. The better the athletes the better the sports team. Which means more fans come out. Which means they spend more money. Which means more research funds. I don’t feel like it’s a slap in the face. The athletic team at my college helped fund me to restore coral reefs. I will say I never went to a single game though. >
  
  It’s all about revenue. Schools don’t give scholarships to reward the most deserving applicants, they do it to attract the students that they will most benefit from. >
  
  A lot of universities make a lot of their money from sports...so yea, I agree tho >
  
  Most large universities are funded through athletics now so the athletes don't give the the school money because they make the school money. >
  
  Full ride scholarships are unusual outside of NCAA Division I schools. Even in those schools, the scholarships tend to focus on a few sports that make the school a boatload of money. Even within these schools, there are 10x as many academic scholarships given out than athletic scholarships. >
  
  As a percentage of enrollment 4 year rides are rare. They could give those to students instead of athletes and it wouldn’t go very far. Knowing university enrollments theyd just use them to try to entice students who rejected them instead of existing students without scholarships. >
  
  They should just pay the athletes as employees in football and basketball. >
  
  Agreed. 
  But even if they didn't, starting in high school, athletes can now license their image to make money, so they still get preferential treatment regardless.
  It doesn't matter how smart you are. It only matters if you can be used and monetized. >
  
  I get the frustration here, but your missing something. Athletes bring in revenue that your good grades don’t. >
  
  This is an uneducated opinion.    
  Athletic scholarships are given on a yearly basis. Many athletes and their families make the mistake of believe that athletic scholarships last all four years in college, but it's not true. That means that they award you financial aid one year at a time.