By Chardonnae Parker / Delta Staff Writer

In the wake of the state of California signing a bill going against the wishes of the National College Athletic Association and allowing collegiate athletes to get paid, the conversation of paying college athletes has further intensified.

The question that raises so many eyebrows is should college athletes get paid. College athletes should not be paid, I repeat, should not. There are so many factors to consider when talking about should college athletes get paid.

One thing to consider is that when it comes to collegiate sports, it is more than just one association and organization. Most people only think about the NCAA when it comes to college athletes. They have the NAIA, NJCAA, USCAA, and more. Most Division one NCAA athletes brings in a large sum of their money from college sports.

Most NAIA and NJCAA schools do not bring in enough money to pay its athletes so the question begs: Where would schools get the money to pay its athletes?

Missouri Valley college student Brenna Lemar said: “The conversation is just so hard. Everyone wants to talk about it but they have so many questions to answer. At what level do you pay NCAA NAIA NJCAA, Division I,II, or III. Do you create a bracket based off grades? Or should you create a bracket based off of performance? Should they create brackets based off of family income, importance to the program, and some colleges have reserve programs. Do those players get paid also? They are still risking their bodies in 20 or more games, practice, and other things involving the sport and their time?”

There are way too many unanswered questions to even consider paying college athletes. A few of the unanswered are; how do we determine how much an athlete gets paid? With what money do schools pay its athletes with? At what level do you start paying athletes?

And the unknown. When discussing money there are so many things most college athletes do not have to worry. In most college athletes do not pay for gear. Gear with the school and or sporting apparel. Athletes most athletes are rewarded an athletic scholarships while attending college.

Many college athletes have the same questions when it comes to should athletes be paid or not when it comes down to the collegiate level Missouri Valley College student believes that paying athletes will take the competitiveness award from the game.

Missouri Valley Student Athlete Xavier Jamerson said: “We can’t pay them because it would stop the student athletes from pushing themselves. To go to the next level because they already have the money. Paying college athletes will make them complacent and lazy. The drive that pushes them to work so hard day in and day out at practice, games, or workouts, will be taken away once you pay athletes. The bottom line is if an athlete wants to be paid they should consider going professional level.”

At the end of the day there are too many unanswered questions to even consider paying athletes at this point.