LSU football player Leonard Fournette is being investigated by both his school and the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) because his family is receiving discounted services for business and a website where the family was going to sell Fournette merchandise such as jerseys, clothing, etc. The NCAA is going to shut down the website and may press charges depending on how far the family has gone with the business. Luckily, for Fournette, he was able to play in the game against Arkansas. However,the NCAA isn’t worried about the family selling homemade merchandise; the NCAA is worried about how this may affect what other college athletes may think of doing with their fame. Also, college athletes receiving money from selling merchandise or in any way will completely change the notion of college athletics. And the discussion of whether or not they should get paid will be a long and tedious debate.

The NCAA reminds those who ask about scholarships that student athletes receive, can have their scholarships dropped anytime depending on the student’s performance in the sports or if the student athlete gets injured. Because not all student athletes will receive scholarships, it may be harder for that particular student athlete to pay the tuition. The topic of student athletes getting paid has recently come into discussion.

There have been polls debating this argument. Most of them have 50/50 votes for both sides. Some students that are not involved in college athletics say that student athletes have it easy and don’t need any benefits or money. On the other hand, some high school athletes think differently.

”I don’t think student athletes should get paid because it’s not a complete job, but they should still get benefits such as food and help from teachers so they can at least get an education,” says Wayne hills football player and upcoming college athlete Angelo Longo. There are many rules for college athletes receiving benefits which most say benefits are punishable whether it’s players receiving food(such as Oklahoma players taking seconds of pasta.) or some student athletes showing their love for their school by getting a bunch of buckeyes tattooed on their arm(such as the Ohio state tattoo scandal). Which both college athletes and regular students believe most of these punishments for these “benefits” seem a little excessive.

The NCAA  said they make over millions of dollars from the business of college sports, but none of the money goes to student athletes.Not a single cent will go to the students athletes, yes the money will go towards sports equipment the student athletes use but the students won’t get money to use outside of school such as getting clothing or getting food to eat which this problem has led to multiple lawsuits against the NCAA, and this is what Fournette and many other student athletes are arguing about. Fournette says that student athletes should get in on the money making system and sell products such as the players’ jersey. Fournette also says that it should not be prohibited, there would be many benefits for student athletes and maybe student athletes could pay off loans or other debts from schools. The NCAA does not want to deal with this topic right now and the debate will take a while to discuss. There are people to say they think they will see the NCAA pay their athletes and get better benefits its only a matter of time.