Being an NCAA student-athlete comes with a great sense of pride and prominence, especially at the Division I level. When it comes to some of the marquee programs in the NCAA, all eyes are on the athletes themselves. Something that is commonly forgotten is the student aspect of the term student-athlete
The student-athletes at NCAA institutions are sometimes looked at as the kings and queens of the school. Institutions like the University of Alabama seem to put football first in many situations, to the point where it seems like that is all they truly care about.
It is commonly forgotten that there are actual students who attend these schools in addition to the athletes. This is when the question is posed: do student-athletes get more advantages than the regular students?
The greatest example of student-athletes being treated differently took place for many years at the University of North Carolina. The famed school is where famous athletes like Michael Jordan, Mia Hamm, Lawerence Taylor and many more called home.
But little did many know, the school had implemented fake classes to help benefit those athletes who were not academically-inclined enough to perform well in regular classes.
Without good performance in the classroom, a student-athlete would not be able to compete. That is why the University of North Carolina went to desperate measures to save the face of their athletic programs.
These fake classes required almost no effort to the student-athlete and when they did, it was extremely simple material.
The most famous example of this was the North Carolina football player who got an A- on a laughable 146 word final paper. The final term paper looked like nothing a college level student should be writing, as it was riddled with spelling and grammatical errors.
In what has been dubbed the biggest academic fraud scandal in college athletic history, the University of North Carolina faced much adversity. For years, the university denied the controversial allegations brought up against the handling of student-athletes.
The situation at the University of North Carolina raised many questions for other universities. As of now, there is not much knowledge of any other universities partaking in the same kind of method, but who knows.
It took almost 18 years for someone to uncover the scandal at UNC, making the situation only more peculiar. These fake classes could still be in existence today, but they may be covered up just as well as the ones at the University of North Carolina.
Being an NCAA student-athlete myself, I can say I have never been in the situation where I was offered an unfair opportunity compared to my peers; however, if I was offered something like the fake classes, I would know not to do it, just based on my morals
Scandals like this tend to happen all of the time in the collegiate athletics world and most of the time, they get caught. Would I love to take the stress of classes out of my everyday life? Of course I would, but I came to college to an education as well, not to just compete.
As a Division III NCAA student-athlete, my situation is a little more different than a Division I athlete. Division I athletes have a legitimate shot of being able to make a living off sports.
Competing at the Division III level, I know there is no shot of myself becoming any kind of professional athlete, so it’s crucial to get an education.
At the end of the day, a student-athlete should be a student first, athlete second.
