BTW, if that were to happen, the big winner will be taxpayers. Suddenly all that scholarship income is taxable, not just the part that goes to meals and lodging (and which I'm guessing most students currently don't pay taxes on, though they should). The schools will need to start paying payroll taxes for the students, and students will need to have have a large chunk withheld for state and federal taxes + SSI & Medicare.
The second biggest winner will be unions, since I would imagine there will be a big push to unionize student-athletes and fold them into some of the existing unions that cover graduate student workers. That would really swell the ranks of the unions that have traditionally incorporated student employees.
And BTW, the biggest loser may actually be women's sports. Once they're considered employees, I'm actually doubtful that Title IX would continue to apply as it currently does, because Title IX's 1:1 scholarship:student gender ratio mandate stems from the NCAA's oversight of student-athlete scholarships. But once they are considered employees, the NCAA probably would not have grounds to enforce the terms of contracts between schools and their employees. And I'm doubtful whether that kind of employment would be considered "educational programs or activities" under Title IX any more than being hired as a resident assistant, a research assistant, or a TA is. And as far as I know, none of those forms of employment has traditionally fallen within the dictates of Title IX's 1:1 matching system.
However problematic the current system is, I have yet to hear any persuasive arguments for why the "students are employees" universe will be better, and I think a lot of the folks who push this rhetoric have not actually thought it through...
The second biggest winner will be unions, since I would imagine there will be a big push to unionize student-athletes and fold them into some of the existing unions that cover graduate student workers. That would really swell the ranks of the unions that have traditionally incorporated student employees.
And BTW, the biggest loser may actually be women's sports. Once they're considered employees, I'm actually doubtful that Title IX would continue to apply as it currently does, because Title IX's 1:1 scholarship:student gender ratio mandate stems from the NCAA's oversight of student-athlete scholarships. But once they are considered employees, the NCAA probably would not have grounds to enforce the terms of contracts between schools and their employees. And I'm doubtful whether that kind of employment would be considered "educational programs or activities" under Title IX any more than being hired as a resident assistant, a research assistant, or a TA is. And as far as I know, none of those forms of employment has traditionally fallen within the dictates of Title IX's 1:1 matching system.
However problematic the current system is, I have yet to hear any persuasive arguments for why the "students are employees" universe will be better, and I think a lot of the folks who push this rhetoric have not actually thought it through...