Collegiate Sports and Higher Education 1

Running Head: Collegiate Sports and Higher Education

Correlation between Collegiate Sports and Higher Education

Andrea Kirk
University of Utah

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We have progressed so much from the past in many areas, but the question we
need to ask ourselves is if we have progressed or digressed when it comes to Higher
Education. I think there are many things that have come to develop and help those who
have a harder time swimming when they get to college, float and it has made a huge
difference but I also see that sometimes we let other things get in the way of what our
main end point is and the reason we attend a university. The main focus of this essay is to
discover is student athletics has gotten in the way of forming the environment that we
need to grow in higher education. Here it is not about opinion but about what scholars
and professors have done shown by case studies or books that they have written on trying
to figure out the positives and negatives of college athletics. I have compiled both from
many different resources. Do college athletes improve higher education so much that they
should receive more money for what they do for us? Is asking for more money on top of

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what is already being given to them insane and show selfishness? Many say it is, because

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coming to a university is about education and not about being the best football team or
the best gymnastic team in the country. They state that we give them the praise they
deserve and we dont owe them more than that, or do we? But is college education being
destroyed in some ways because of athletics and are we hurting our athletes instead of
helping them or do sports help them raise the bar, not only for themselves but also for the
students around them?
I would first like to focus on how many points indicate how higher education has
progressed. Gary A Olsen (date), who wrote, Let's refocus the Debate About Higher
Education Affordability, talks about how when he went to school choices were very
limited even down to the food that he ate. He also describes how students in universities

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today have peer tutors, teacher aids, and even study groups that are run by students that
previously excelled in the class or by the teacher himself. Colleges have tried to reach out
their hand and make it easier for students who have a hard time learning a certain course
for the first time and give them an opportunity to pass the class that, without help, they
may have ended up failing and never achieving their dream to become a doctor. Yes,
thats a harsh conclusion but colleges have come a long way to help those who have a
hard time grasping concepts, succeed. Some may disagree and mainly it will be students
or people who were able to get by without help, but many students need help. They may
state that its easy if you just work hard and put time into it. Many students even with
working hard, on their own will still fail. It may not be while being an undergraduate, but
as graduate students there is so much more help then there is as an undergrad and without
help it can be close to impossible to graduate. In other words, colleges have evolved into
much more sophisticated "learning environments" than simple "schools," collections of
classrooms and laboratories (p.1) He names of a few more examples such as school
counselors and how much they help students figure out their path, even helping with
everyday problems in Higher education. Personnel administrators, and faculty members
have realized how much students mean and how if they help students, students, in turn,
help them in keeping a safe school environment or having a high overall GPA for the
institution. Tuition prices alone should indicate how much money goes into the school to
help students succeed but again the does all that money goes to improving higher

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education or can we see it going into other things?

The real problem--the elephant in the room--is that as a society we have lost
sight of the value of higher education. (Olsen, date, p.1) This statement is the thing that

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many people deny because students or alumni enjoy the way the school is headed but we
hate how much we have to pay. Now in some areas I agree we pay way too much to have
money go where it does. The school needs money from us for new buildings and books
and cafeterias that students demand and need. I also believe that as a government and a
nation in the USA we have forgotten that higher education is crucial and important. We
have raised some taxes but have not raised how much of our taxes go to universities.
Instead, tuition is raised. We used to put so much value into how much of our taxes went
to education, but with a new world other things have been given priority. Not only has
education taken a back seat in that way, but it has also taken a back seat because of other
things that alumnus, states, and students demand. As I have stated before we want places
to eat on campus, and that costs money to build. We want new football stadiums, which
also cost money to build. We want more but we do not want to give more. This is where

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we have lost sight of higher education. Now I am not saying we should be willing to pay
and hand our money over for such trivial things and what is sad is that if just a few are
wiling to pay for these changes we all end up paying for it with the money we give to our
school to attend for four years. Some schools like Stanford University the tuition is sky

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high for 11 credits or more it cost about $14,230. Its a great school but you are also
paying a high price just for the name. A lot is used for us as student room and

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board money for food if we are a first year but after that it goes to building. At the
University of Utah we have many projects under way, which have raised tuition

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for the students. We have parking garages, some new school building and a new
athletic gym. A gym, which is open to all students but even then it, will have
private sectors for athletes.

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My main focus in this literature review is to ask if the price we pay for college athletics is

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worth it. Above, I have demonstrated what has changed from our parents years to ours and from
giving money and raising tuition to invaluable things that people demand as students or as
athletes. College athletes have come to expect and earn a full college term (four years) without
really paying a dime form their pockets. Graham, D. stated in Academics and athletics: the

necessary tension in higher education. (2012) That the NCAA has passed to increase
their financial support They get free books, free ipads, laptops, and shoes and clothes on top of

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that. Yes there are some walk-ons who dont get all the benefits but for the most part college
athletes get a pretty great deal, being training in south America for a competition, flying or taking
a bus to California or the east coast. I mean how many students who are not athletes can say that
the school pays them to do any of that stuff. None of these things are bad or terrible but when
athletes feel like they have more authority and even deserve to be paid for what they do its
unbelievable.

The main argument is does college athletics really help and encourage higher
education or does it diminish it as a place where people continue high school sport
dreams. I honestly think that sports are very beneficial to those that play them and decide
to play collegiately. It is something that builds character Athletes were expected to be
detached from any profit and compete for the pureness of sport between gentlemen.
(Vanover & DeBowes, date, p. 2) Saying this, athletics have always been an easy way out
when it comes to doing our best in a class. For instance, athletes may major in harder or
easier curricula than the average student. They may come in to the university with lower
or higher than average SAT scores. Students dont really know the variables, but some
who are on the lower part of the scale may get in because of athletic abilities, if they
really are as great as they say they are. During the Utah USC game booker was good

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enough to go to USC but they didnt take him because of his grade point average. He
stated that he wanted to show them what they had missed out on but in reality education
and having a high GPA maintained at their school was important to them. I am not saying
that all their players have high GPA but his skill level probably didnt overcome their
standard for what they wanted to see in one of their athletes. In some cases it could even
push an athlete to get high grades and in many cases that is exactly what it does. It is an
incentive for athletes to get high grades so that they can get scholarships and so they can
go to a school of their choice.
Maloney, McCormick, and Chu also show how an athlete preforms during the on
and off season and how much that impacts them, they state:
Unlike athletes in the revenue sports, participants in non-revenue sports
show no grading differential between the on- and off-season. Our
interpretation of this is that coaches and university administrators do not
put as much pressure on the nonrevenue athletes to perform. Those
athletes are able to put more emphasis on their studies and less on their
sport relative to the tradeoff faced by revenue-sports participants when
their sport is in season. The objective function of schools in supporting
nonrevenue varsity programs is open to question. Even so, since winning
in the big-time sports appears to have a larger monetary effect, it is
believable that those athletes are forced to accept a more severe tradeoff
between academic performances relative to athletic achievements.
I think this quote explains perfectly of what I am trying to demonstrate, which is
that sports are amazing and they do help us build in a lot of ways but sometimes coaches

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and schools put more emphasis on how important their athletic lives are compared to
their educational lives. We lose track of why students attend college and that the sole
purpose is to gain an educations so they can have a career and excel in life. Yes some of
our athletes are good enough to make it to the NBM or NFL but only 1% of all athletes
ever go pass that into the pros. Its something that as students, they are given for
recreation but we end up putting it before our education, which is what will in the end
really benefit us. I am not saying that money cant go towards athletes but I think we
should re-think the quota of how much we are really willing to give up for four years and
to cheer for four years at games or to play for four years. Is it worth is? Is the cost worth
the entertainment we get? Thats the real question.
If athletes were to maintain the highest GPA and somehow their athletics helps other

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students have a high GPA then all means we should put more money to athletics. This is not the
case. As flowers mentioned in Institutionalized Hypocrisy: The Myth of Intercollegiate

Athletics (2009) people see athletics as fundamental but it has never been apart of a schools

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mission statement but rather has become independent commercial enterprise As stated

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above athletes do not have a higher efficacy then those who are non athletes. Those who strive to
have a high GPA should be the ones who receive money and those who need more help should be
given more resources not a new stadium to help achieve a Higher GPA. Grossbard, J. R. in his

study of Athletic identity, descriptive norms, and drinking among athletes

Transitioning to college (2009). Even states that athletes have a tendency to drink more.
As a school it is paying athletes who may not even perform to their highest capacity
because they like to party and drink. Athletes should be on probation when on season
from drinking. Especially if we pay them so much to be the best athletes they can be. Not
drinking the night before wont do much good if the effects are still in your body.

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In conclusion I would just like to restate my point which is that even though
athletics are something that can help a person grow to be a better them and helps to
increase moral, work ethic and other such things it can also be a huge distraction to both
faculty, students, and the athletes themselves to the point where we either forget and pay
less attention to our academics in that semester or we forget that we pay these athletes to
have the career that they have for four years and they may end up being a doctor or major
in elementary education. The Character of American Higher Education and

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Intercollegiate Sport, The impact of intercollegiate athletics on graduation rates among

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major NCAA division I universities, and The Impact of Intercollegiate Athletics in

Higher Education. To name a few they show the correlations between sports and higher
education.
I think our focus as a country and as a state has started to focus on the small and
on less important aspects including college athletics. We have to refocus and think about
what our main goal is and then ask ourselves a question, not if higher education is worth
the cost but is rather is the cost of what we pay the cost that we should pay? When really
athletes themselves are the ones getting most the benefits shouldnt they pay more to
keep up their stadium and pay for uniforms or is that just something they get for learning
or being born with athletic abilities that those without end up paying for as well? You
decide.

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References
Brand, M. (2006). The role and value of intercollegiate athletics in universities. Journal

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of the Philosophy of Sport, 33(1), 9-20.

Chu, D. (1989). The Character of American Higher Education and Intercollegiate Sport.
State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246.

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Flowers, R.D. (2009). Institutionalized Hypocrisy: The Myth of Intercollegiate Athletics.

American Educational History Journal, 36(2), 343-360.

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Graham, D. (2012). Academics and athletics: the necessary tension in higher education.
Diverse Issues In Higher Education, 29(8), 30.

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Grossbard, J. R. (2009). Athletic identity, descriptive norms, and drinking among athletes
transitioning to college. Addictive Behaviors, 34(4), 352-359.

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Weisbrod, B. A., Ballou, J. P., & Asch, E. D. (2008). Mission and money: Cambridge

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University Press.
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Mixon Jr, F. G., & Trevino, L. J. (2005). From kickoff to commencement: The positive

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role of intercollegiate athletics in higher education. Economics of Education Review,

24(1), 97-102.
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Umbach, P. D., Palmer, M. M., Kuh, G. D., & Hannah, S. J. (2006). Intercollegiate
athletes and effective educational practices: Winning combination or losing
effort? Research in Higher Education, 47(6), 709-733.
Vanover, E. T., & DeBowes, M. M. The Impact of Intercollegiate Athletics in Higher
Education.

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Companion Piece:
The audience I choose to pick is that of incoming freshman, head of schools,
and fellow college men. I pick incoming freshman because they do make up the
school their needs are met by colleges if they want them. With the head of school
they are the most likely to actually make a change along with the student body
(fellow college men) All three should value higher education and lower tuition if we
pay athletes less or nothing at all.
The main convincing points are lower tuition, and-or money going to another
place that benefits all students and not just athletes. For the head of the school and
others (like engineering majors) they could invest in more tutoring or other aids to
help students study. Learning more about this topic could be good convincing points
in the future for them and help them make a change within the college that they
attend.
It grabs attention by having athletes and colleges that you know and love.
Which makes it misleading so people will stop and look but then figure out the
meaning. It may also surprise some to take an interest and to start doing something
about the problem that is being created. They are aimed at athletes, even and other
peers. I choose flyers for they are seen all around campus and people stop and read
them or rip off tags that they may have.