The president of the NCAA now backs a plan that would allow conferences to pay student athletes, and it is a horrible idea. Colleges already spend too much money on athletics when there are far more important things that they should be spending money on.

The plan would specifically increase the grants received by student athletes by $2,000. The $2,000 would go beyond the basic athletic scholarships in order to approach the full cost of attending college, according to an article from ESPN.com.

There has been a growing movement as of late to pay student athletes because their scholarships don’t cover all of their expenses, and they can’t get extra jobs due to their schedules.

The National College Players Association recently estimated the average scholarship for football players at the Football Bowl Subdivision level fell $3,222 short of the players’ actual expenses.

That stinks for the athletes, but there are a lot of students here that end each semester with way more debt than that.

I work three jobs so that I can go to school and pay my expenses. I understand that student athletes are busy and have demanding class and practice schedules, but my schedule is pretty demanding, too. I work hard and have no money; that’s just part of college.

It’s good that the NCAA is trying to help student athletes, but they already get so much that it’s kind of ridiculous.

According to the NCAA website, full athletic scholarships cover a student athlete’s tuition, fees, room, board and required course-related books. However, there’s a lot more to it than that.

A USA Today article estimated that the average value of an athletic scholarship for a Division I men’s basketball player is about $120,000 per year when taking into account the costs of the scholarship itself, the free professional strength and conditioning training they receive, medical expenses and future expected earnings.

But wait, there’s more.

According to an article on SportsIllustrated.com, just for participating in the Humanitarian Bowl last year, every NIU football player received a Sony gift suite, a parka, an Ogio backpack and a commemorative football.

You also can’t forget about those sweet scooters they get to ride around on and those free trips across the country.

This extra money for athletes would be an unnecessary expense on top of the ridiculous amount that they already get.

Many universities, like NIU, are going through huge budget problems, and college athletics do not generate revenue like some people think.

Even though college football is a billion-dollar industry, in 2009, only 14 of the 120 schools in the Football Bowl Subdivision made a profit off sports, according to an ESPN.com article.

It doesn’t make sense for schools to increase athletic costs when they’re losing money and have more important things to spend it on.

Because of budget problems, within the past year, NIU has had to institute a hiring freeze, reduce the number of operating days during summer and winter, defer maintenance and hasn’t been able to invest in new technologies, according to a Northern Star article.

Paying student athletes would be great for the athletes but horrible for the rest of us. There are just too many important issues that schools need to address, and spending money for already spoiled athletes isn’t one of them.