52. Invest in the academic success of college athletes, particularly those with lower incomes.

Finance 09.6.24

Here’s what the federal government can do:

  • The U.S. Department of Education should collect, conduct, and disseminate data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status on the enrollment and academic outcomes of college athletes, as well as best practices for ensuring academic success for student athletes.
  • Congress should enact legislation that federally recognizes college athletes at public universities as employees.

Here’s what state government can do:

  • State legislatures should enact legislation that recognizes college athletes at public universities as employees.
  • State legislatures should fund programs that support the academic outcomes of college athletes with lower incomes.

Here’s what institutional leaders can do:

  • Higher education institutions should recognize college athletes as employees, including as unionized employees if they choose to unionize.
  • Higher education institutions should provide insurance coverage for both short-term and long-term health consequences of athletic participation.
  • Higher education institutions should provide need-based emergency aid in the event of injury.
  • Higher education institutions should provide no-cost meals, free housing, and cover athletic-related medical expenses for students with lower incomes.
  • Higher education institutions should strengthen their athletics programs by gathering input on strategies to meet the basic needs of college athletes who are students of color, first-generation students, and students with lower incomes. Higher education institutions should appropriately compensate college athletes for their participation in these surveys.

Varsity athletics in higher education served as the initial entry point for racially marginalized students during the integration era. Post-integration, athletics programs have remained a pathway for selective institutions to enroll Black students, offering a unique window into how these campuses treat and value these students. Higher education institutions continue to rely on the unpaid labor of traditionally underrepresented students to enhance campus revenue, while Black athletes are increasingly marginalized in non-athletic settings — reinforcing stereotypes that they’re only on campus solely to play sports rather than to pursue an education.[i] While 69 percent of all college athletes[ii] who entered in the 2016-17 class graduated by 2023, only 55 percent of Black male athletes graduated, which was the lowest among any athlete group by race and gender.[iii]

Although athletes are the centerpiece of college athletics revenue generation, they are not considered employees of their institution and receive no compensation for their athletic labor — while also being prohibited from seeking other means of income during their sport season.[iv] Despite their labor fueling a multibillion dollar international industry, 14 percent of college athletes at NCAA Division I schools in 2019 were unhoused and 24 percent were food insecure.[v] Higher education institutions have focused their spending on coaching salaries and marketing efforts, rather than meeting these students’ basic needs both inside and outside the classroom. Across all NCAA Division 1 schools in 2023, total spending on coach and staff salaries was roughly 10 times the spending on medical expenses and insurance premiums for college athletes, and it far exceeded total spending on athletic student aid.[vi] Institutions have also prioritized short-term athletic success over the long-term health of their athletes, resulting in consequences such as medical debt and lasting medical harm.[vii] The absence of mandatory medical insurance provided to athletes signals that institutions only value traditionally underrepresented students for their uncompensated athletic labor.

Disaggregated data on the race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic status of college athletes, in addition to student athlete outcomes data, is critically needed to gain a better understanding of the experiences of college athletes nationwide.[viii] Policymakers and higher education institutions must make it expressly clear that marginalized athletes are valued not just for their physical abilities, but also for their academic prowess. The widespread failures of institutions in graduating their athletes are just as significant for an institution’s racial equity as cases of athletes successfully completing their degrees or going professional.[ix]

 
Policymakers should meet their obligation to protect and ensure the success and safety of all students, including college athletes. For more resources and information, see The Center for Law and Social Policy’s report “Equal Play, Unequal Pay: Race-Conscious Admissions and the Systemic Exploitation of Black Male Athletes.”

[i]Wilkerson, Todd; Wilkerson, Fridley; Alison, Arthur-Banning; Skye Arthur-Banning; et. al.,“Gonna Mess with Your Head’: The Role of Mental Health in the Lived Experiences of Black Male Football College Athletes,” Journal of Issues in Intercollegiate Athletics, April 2022, https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/jiia/vol15/iss1/1/.

[ii] College athletes are often referred to as “student-athletes.”

[iii]“Overall Division 1 Freshman Cohort Graduation Rates,” National Collegiate Athletic Association, https://web3.ncaa.org/aprsearch/public_reports/instAggr2023/1_0.pdf.

[iv] “Hungry to Win: A First Look at Food and Housing Insecurity Among Student-Athletes,” The Hope Center, April 2020. https://hope.temple.edu/sites/hope/files/media/document/2019_StudentAthletes_Report.pdf.

[v]Ibid.

[vi]“Knight-Newhouse College Athletics Database,” Knight Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics, https://knightnewhousedata.org/about.

[vii]Kalman-Lamb, Nathan; & Silva, Derek. “The coaches always make the health decisions: “Conflict of interest as exploitation in power five college football,” Science Direct, February 2024, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667321524000143.

[viii]The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) collects and reports data on college athletes disaggregated by race, gender, and ethnicity, while excluding socioeconomic status.

[ix]Collins, Christian. “Equal Play, Unequal Pay: Race-Conscious Admissions and the Systemic Exploitation of Black Male Athletes,” Center for Law and Social Policy, 2023, https://www.clasp.org/publications/report/brief/equal-play-unequal-pay-race-conscious-admissions-and-the-systemic-exploitation-of-black-male-athletes/.