An amateur is one who pursues an activity for pleasure rather than material gain (Morehead 33). A professional is someone who plays a paid sport (Morehead 567). The definition of amateur and professional has one fundamental difference: the word remuneration. Should student athletes be paid to play their sports? College athletes are amateurs who play a sport in which they have limited on-stage experience. College athletes are not professionals. Student-athletes should not be paid to play their sports while attending college. Amateur student-athletes are in college first and foremost to receive an education and not for financial gain. Students become professionals once they graduate. The same concept applies to athletes who play college sports. Playing a sport in college gives the athlete more training, knowledge and experience before moving on to play professionally at the next level. Student athletes should not be paid to do a high-risk job in which they have little experience. When athletes signed to play their sports in college, they knew that playing a sport at the college level meant sacrificing certain opportunities. Athletes knew that playing at the college level would mean dedicating numerous hours a day to practice, as well as maintaining a certain grade point average (GPA) to remain eligible to play. Playing a sport at university also means not having the time to have a job. Student athletes have a limited monetary budget, just like most non-student athletes. However, non-student athletes have the freedom to earn additional income by working in their free time. Although non-student athletes have the advantage of getting jobs, student athletes were aware of their finances...... middle of paper ...... suffers from additional issues such as competitive disadvantage among universities, the decline in team morale, and less profitability. Works Cited Morehead, Albert H., Loy Morehead, and Philip D. Morehead. AmericanWebster's new handy college dictionary: Includes abbreviations, geographic names, foreign words and phrases, forms of address, weights and measures, signs and symbols. 4th ed. New York: Signet, 2006. Print. “Should college athletes be paid to play?” Fool.com: advice for investing in stocks | StockResearch. Np, nd Web. April 11, 2011.. "Why Student-Athletes Don't Get Paid to Play - NCAA.org." NCAA public home page –NCAA.org. Np, nd Web. April 11. 2011. .