After the Supreme Court unanimously ruled against the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) last month regarding education-related payments to student-athletes, the NCAA will also allow athletes to profit off their fame. College students agree that the restrictions on athletes’ ability to receive payments have been too strict.
A new College Pulse survey of 829 undergraduates finds that an overwhelming majority (81%) believe the NCAA takes advantage of student-athletes. This sentiment is stronger among varsity athletes than students overall. Among the 34 varsity athletes surveyed, 80% agree that the NCAA takes advantage of student-athletes, with 60% strongly agreeing and 20% somewhat agreeing. Overall, 39% of students strongly agree and 42% somewhat agree.
“Student-athletes have so many restrictions placed on them, and schools/NCAA make insane amounts of money off of them without those students seeing that money,” a University of Louisville student says. “And let’s be real, student-athletes are set up to fail after college most of the time.”
College students overall largely support athletes receiving education-related payments, as well as making money in other ways. Three-quarters (75%) of students favor allowing athletes to receive education-related payments such as computers and musical instruments. Support is even stronger for allowing athletes to make money by appearing in ads (93%), profiting off their own likeness by selling jerseys or posters (89%), or endorsing products on social media (88%).
These proposals are also extremely popular among varsity athletes, who show the strongest support for allowing athletes to make money by appearing in ads. More than 9 in 10 (96%) varsity athletes support allowing athletes to appear in ads, followed by receiving education-related payments (83%) and endorsing products on social media (81%). College athletes (81%) are also in favor of allowing universities to pay athletes a salary, compared to about two-thirds (67%) of students overall.
Students Overwhelmingly Favor Allowing Athletes to Earn Money
Percentage of students who favor allowing athletes to…
“[The NCAA] makes insane profits off of their athletes, and even if they offer full rides it’s not even close to the profits some of these programs are making,” a University of Michigan student says. “Also, especially for things like football where there is a high risk of CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], they are not getting money they can save for future healthcare costs.”
When it comes to earning caps, almost half (45%) of students overall say if student-athletes are allowed to earn money from social media posts there should be no limit to how much they can earn. One-quarter (24%) are not sure what would be an appropriate limit. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of students who strongly agree athletes should be allowed to make money on social media say there should be no limit.
College students take issue with more than the NCAA’s compensation rules, though. Just 1 in 6 students (17%) say the NCAA treats men’s and women’s sports equally. And male students are more likely than female students to believe men’s and women’s sports get equal treatment (22% vs. 15%).
Multiple students mention disparities between men’s and women’s training areas, referencing the public outcry over the women’s March Madness weight-training area that led to improved facilities and an apology from the NCAA’s vice president for basketball. “They don’t do enough to promote women’s sports and sporting events,” a Colorado College student says, “in addition to a lack of coverage of women’s events in general.”
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Methodology: This survey was designed and conducted by College Pulse. Interviews were conducted between May and June among a sample of 829 full-time and part-time students attending colleges or universities in the U.S. who are part of College Pulse’s American College Student Panel.
