To most seniors in high school, looking for a school that has the best football game experience is very important. So when thinking of schools like Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and the University of Texas, their successful football achievements are usually what come to mind first. But what about their academic rigor? Does their highly competitive athletics overshadow their academics and do athletes get pulled in for only athletics, and the academic portion is thrown to the side? In today’s society, collegiate athletics takes higher priority than academics which can hurt the future of education in universities.
Student-athletes are said to have two jobs instead of one. They are a student, and an athlete, both each has their own obstacles and challenges. Students have projects and essays due, along with making sure to make it to a science lab and constant studying for tests and quizzes. Athletes have to be present at all practices for however long they have it for and make it to games and play at their very best because most of them are there for athletic scholarships. With these two jobs combined, it can become very stressful. But bigger schools set out to help their athletes as much as they can, with study tables with teammates, logging how many hours they spend there or at the library as well. Some teams get their own tutors for whatever subject they need them in, or for reading through essays. Athletes get a plethora of tools handed to them to help them become better students. But these tools can be taken advantage of. There have been cases where tutors have been found writing student athletes essays for them because in order to stay on an NCAA D I team, your GPA has to be a minimum of a 2.3. With a GPA requirement that low, are athletes really learning, or are they doing the bare minimum to stay eligible to stay on their team? Furthermore, the University of Texas has one of the best football programs in the country, but their team average is a GPA of 2.89. Having a good football program doesn’t make a university great, the education the university provides is the most important factor. But universities that have outstanding sports programs are what ultimately pull students in, even if they are not involved with a sport. So students who are looking for academics could feel like they are not as important to the school as student-athletes. 
Universities spoil their athletes. They spend millions of dollars on new facilities. Clemson in 2015 reported from the Chicago Tribune that “The people in charge of Clemson University’s athletic department have not settled on a design for the miniature golf course they are building for their football team, but they know it will have just nine holes, not 18. That will leave room for the sand volleyball courts, laser tag, movie theater, bowling lanes, barbershop and other amenities planned in the $55 million complex that South Carolina’s second-largest public university is building exclusively for its football players.” (Chicago Tribune) Student-athletes get major perks for playing on a college team. This is part of what draws athletes in, the big shiny new facilities are what students see on tours of universities before making a decision. Universities spend so much on their athletic facilities and teams, what is left for the non-athlete students? The University of Clemson has its notorious football stadium, but the rest of its campus is bleak. They have their football program that creates the draw to go to their school. Education needs to become the draw for schools because that is what you are going to college for. Education needs to be the reason for going to a school, not the athletic programs provided there.
The draw for higher education is being overshadowed by athletics. A solution to help education become the main reason for going to university is to reduce the number of athletic scholarships given out per year and allow for more money to be spent on educational facilities. Football stadiums do not need bigger jumbotrons, new educational buildings need to be built, and old ones need to be expanded and updated. Regular students are being tossed to the side to make way for athletes, which should not be the priority of universities.
There needs to be better attention paid towards improving education in college, but sports bring in a lot of revenue for college which is why athletics are paid more attention towards then educations. It’s also hard to improve the importance of education in college when student athlete’s aren’t able to do their work because they are busy playing their sport.
I fully agree with your argument because not every college athlete will go pro. The percentage of students that end up being drafted is extremely slim. So my question is what happens to the students that do have such a low G.P.A during college and barely pass any of their classes? I think that it would be hard for them to enter the work force after they graduate college. Schools need to focus more on all of thier students not just the select few that are in the athletic programs.