-Families and high school programs have invested more in these young athletes than ever before. Things such as camps, club teams, summer workouts, weight training, maybe even personal trainers and dietitians have contributed to families wanting their young athletes to cash in earlier. They’ve been training to be athletes, not students, most of their lives. [This is very true but it does beg the question, a lot of these athletes are coming from low and lower income circumstances so where is that money coming from? says to me that economically, these kids are already "bought" by somebody.] -The value and quality of education has decreased. People just don't see it as valuable as they did in the past. Just because the cost of education has gone up doesn't mean its value and reputation have gone up. So getting "education" in exchange for services, just doesn't seem like such a great deal anymore. [Again that is a true statement but the flip side is many, especially males are passing on college but they don't "play college" like these athletes do. Maybe just maybe these athletes should prepare academically as much as they do athletically or the stage they want but are not entitled to won't exist for them. There is a mindset that colleges must provide athletic opportunities and that is not the purpose of colleges at all. That is why I am in favor of a total minor league like say baseball. Universities are for teaching and research not athletics for non students.] -So when Cardale Jones at Ohio State (AAU school in a conference purporting to be serious about academics) says “I'm not here to play school," he's not wrong; he just said the quiet part out loud. This illustrates that some athletes and maybe most athletes don't see the value in education and they are clearly there to play sports. [ Then find a non educational purpose place to do that] -I don't know what to call it but I think athletes could major in something just simply called “Athletics.” There's plenty to teach to people wanting to be professional athletes. Instead of having phony majors they can learn about investing, taxes, public speaking, operating sports camps, establishing a small business and other things that would come in handy if they don't make it in the pros. After all, even players who don't go to the NBA or NFL can still make money off of their image as they still have name recognition in their communities. [I think the presidents need to go the other way, if they aren't students, you don't get the stage, training, coaching etc. And, aren't there already majors that pretty much cover that already? All those athletes have to do is go get them. But they would say they are already tapped out training for their sport.] -Further, will athletes even have to go to class anymore? If you think about the clubs in Premier League soccer, most started as factory teams and used factory workers. As stakes got higher (the money and the will to win), the players did soccer full time…to the point where they eventually “hired” people to play who never saw the inside of a factory. Are we headed to that in “college” football?