There are thousands of student athletes in the NCAA and despite a recent push for these athletes to get paid, this should not happen.

In March, former athletes at Northwestern University won a battle in court that would make football players, employees, thus granting them benefits not normally offered to students.

This could cause a major ripple effect.

Football and basketball are major money pits in the college athletics world. Television companies are paying millions of dollars to show a game on their network and that money is then divided up and sent out to every sports team on the campus.

A sport like tennis will not bring in the same revenue as football. Although there is potential for some mild reform, student athletes still should not get paid.

Sacramento State is not a big moneymaker in college athletics and has done a fairly good job in keeping both students and athletes happy.

Every student on campus can pick up a free bus pass sleeve which can solve the transportation problem for those who can not afford cars. They also provide the opportunity for students to live on campus where there are mandatory meal plans and being on campus helps students be close to classes and professors.

If food, housing and transportation are taken care of, what else is there to need. Tattoos?

One argument is that some students come from underprivileged homes and cannot afford basic things like having enough food or having proper transportation.

Playing sports takes up a lot of time whether it is practices, study hall or travelling to games. Along with taking classes, an athlete hardly ever has free time to work to make money.

Student athletes should make a choice of whether to try and continue their dream or get serious and get a job and prepare for life after college. Less than 1 percent of athletes actually reach the professional ranks and even fewer than that go on to have successful careers.

Playing sports in school is like an extracurricular activity and should be treated as such. It grants entertainment value, but there are clubs and organizations on campus that work just as hard at their craft as athletes do.

Getting paid seems like an excuse for athletes to just go to college to take minimum classes and play sports. It would be much more valuable to the athletes to earn an education to prepare them for the world outside of weekend parties and practices.