A volatile topic circling the world of collegiate sports is whether student athletes deserve to be paid for playing.

College athletes earn major universities millions of dollars in revenue annually, while they receive an education in return.

According to the Birmingham Business Journal, the Texas Longhorns earn the most for the college with $72.95 million in football revenue, and more than $120 million overall.

This monumental amount of income is catching the attention of NCAA Athletics President James Votruba.

According to www.thenortherner.com, he doesn’t like the idea of paying players to play for college institutions. And he’s right. The idea of paying NCAA athletes is ludicrous.

Let’s not forget most of these athletes receive tuition for most if not all of their already expensive education. Paid tuition should already be considered a form of payment.

Not all these players are scholars in the classroom and are already taking padded courses because they give their university a better chance of winning when they are eligible to play.

Former University of Oklahoma basketball star Blake Griffin was quoted during a basketball game he played in while attending OU, saying his favorite class was pilates.

This is a common theme around the country; athletes are brought in and are able to take relatively easy classes, to maintain a high GPA.

There are exceptions to this trend; many college athletes do, in fact, take demanding courses while participating in athletics. The Nov. 22, 2008, Rhodes Scholar recipient and former Florida State football player Myron Rolle, is an example.

According to insider.espn.go.com, Rolle agrees with the idea of paying NCAA athletes.

“I am in favor of paying collegiate athletes, and I say that because football and basketball … (are) the biggest revenue-generating sports,” Rolle said.

Finding common ground on this issue is difficult. It’s simple really: college athletes do not get paid to play, because that is what makes NCAA sports entertaining to watch.

They are asked to train extremely hard while attending class, striving to earn the opportunity to earn a paycheck to play the sport they love.

If the NCAA tarnishes the legacy of the collegiate athletic world by paying players, then you may not see athletes going 110 percent on every play.

One of the main reasons college sports holds tradition is competitors go as hard as they can every second of every play.

That’s one of the major dilemmas with professional sports right now; fans must witness players constantly giving up on plays.

If college athletes get paid, they will not produce as much excitement on the field of play as they did before they got paid. They should remain unpaid, and be happy with scholarships and focus on what’s important now — their education.