They already get paid in the form of scholarships, free housing, free food, free travel, free tutoring, free help with homework, and free publicity. The NCAA is the one making athletes as poor as humanly possible. They target star athletes that come from poor backgrounds on purpose and schools that they want to be on their shitlist. The NCAA also uses that shitlist to make sure that certain schools cannot compete in certain (*cough* football basketball baseball *cough*) championships, thereby determining the winner. That's how the NCAA's people in charge make money on the side. This whole thing about college athletes being paid is a fucking scam and what should be happening is that the nation's colleges should be seceding from the NCAA and forming an agency that's not corrupted like the NCAA.