College is expensive.

According to Sacramento State’s office of Financial Aid, one year of attendance costs more than $23,000. That number is inclusive of the price of housing and other living expenses that go along with tuition.

Many students seek the assistance of their parents or a part-time job to pay the exorbitant expense of a college education. Other students work hard in their chosen sport to earn a scholarship to a school they want to play for.

With a lot of schools recruiting athletes, the question of whether or not these athletes are employees of the school and capable of unionization has been raised.

If athletes do well at their job, scoring goals, making passes or generally impressing the crowd, they provide more funding to their program as attendance increases. They do not, however, receive a raise.

Students are expected to study three hours outside of class for every unit they take during a semester.

Student athletes are asked to maintain a moderate GPA by studying the expected amount of hours, practice 20 hours a week during a sport’s season (40 hours in the offseason) and to work another job for any expenses they might incur outside of the academic world.

They are also held to a behavioral standard since their choices are considered reflective of the school’s quality. There have been stories of athletes being suspended or threatened with a loss of scholarship because of a social choice they made off the field that would not have made the news if it had been made by someone who does not play a sport.

One former Sacramento State track triple jumper, Nick Taylor was asked to choose between his musical aspirations and his sport. After posting a music video, showing two other athletes and himself drinking on camera, he was given an ultimatum to stop rapping or stop running.

The practice requirement is equivalent to a part-time job and behavior contracts mirror those seen for contract employees. While these students are being paid for their time, in the form of scholarships, the school they play for is also getting paid for the athletes’ work.

Universities make money off the efforts of student athletes, similar to how an employer makes money off the efforts of its employees.

In a capitalist economy based on meritocracy, doing your job well should translate into more opportunities and better pay. For athletes, like those seen at Northwestern University, this has not been the case and they have had no means to request what other university employees can.

Unionizing athletes allows them to have a say in how their efforts are marketed, where their scholarships come from and protects them from mistreatment. If a student-athlete must sign over their talents, ability to make poor choices-however immoral, and profit from their work, universities must sign over some protections for these young people.