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Fisher Vollendorf

UWRT

Professor Kaufman

October 30, 2018

Are Student-Athletes Protected by Their School Post-graduation?

There are approximately 460,000 student-athletes today, these 460,000 are spread about

24 sports. Every one of these sports comes with a risk. Every time an athlete laces up his or her

shoes they put their body on the line. All too often one of these athletes falls to the ground in

agonizing pain. We can watch them roll around the field in distress. We keep up with their

progress as they perform therapy and various medical treatments. But what happens to the

athletes once they graduate is far less known. Does the college continue to pay the medical

expenses of the student they once paid to come to their school? Are they simply cast out and left

on their own?

Pain and trauma simply does not cease to exist just because you walked across that stage

in cap and gown. As a student-athlete myself, this research journey really hits home as it could

happen to either me or anyone of my friends. I do not know much about the subject other than a

few friends who have gone through the unfortunate scenario of being injured while playing

college sports. I hope this research will go a long way to have a better understanding of the

process.
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My friend James played soccer at a small college in Georgia. He had a successful career

but decided to not turn professional. However, during his time in school he suffered several

painful knee injuries. They have continued to bother him years after. He even recently

underwent surgery to repair some of the damage. His school didn’t cover the expenses as he was

no longer a student-athlete for them. This story jump started my research to find out more about

specific injuries and how they affect the body long term. By nature some sports are far more

dangerous than others. Obviously golf will not put me in danger for any serious injury. While

some back and neck pain is expected, it will not alter my life in anyway. This is far different than

a football player who risks long term brain damage with every play of the game.

91% of college football players studied have been found to have chronic traumatic

encephalopathy or CTE. This brain disease is caused by repeated traumatic head blows. This

disease causes depression, memory loss, anxiety, many other problems; In extreme cases it has

lead to suicide. I chose this specific research point to start as it is by far the most dangerous

common injury in college sports. Life-altering injuries are very real and very scary to face on

your own as a 19 year old. You would hope that colleges will do all they can to assist their

student athletes.

The New York Times did a piece on how colleges have a wide array of health insurance

for their student athletes. Many sticky situations have come up due to what the insurance

company deems caused the injury. Some athletes have found themselves owing upwards of

$50,000. The core problem is that to insure a single student-athlete would cost an institution

close to six figures. Even a member of the NCAA legislative council states, “The only way to

increase coverage would be to make it mandatory. It could be too demanding financially on some
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of our institutions.” Some schools such as Middlebury College have accident insurance paid for

all their athletes. “Ethically I think it’s the right thing to do,” says the school’s compliance

director. However, not all schools believe that their athletes are worth the financial burden. The

University of Ohio had a football player named Jason Whitehead who was hurt so badly during a

workout that he was temporarily paralyzed. Once his surgery was complete, he was told that his

career was over. This wasn’t the only bad news he got. He also lost his scholarship, and was left

with thousands to pay off by himself. He actually believed that the bills were behind him until he

tried to purchase a car and found that he had $1,800 of bills to be paid. This is one of the many

examples that show how some colleges have left their athletes out to dry after they were injured

competing for the very school that they believed cared for them.

It seems that the health insurance plans vary quite a bit from school to school. However,

in my research it seems that more often than not once the athlete leaves the school they are left

with whatever bills the school didn’t cover. There is more research to be done, but for now it

seems like the NCAA will not pay for a student’s health problems not only when they leave

school, but sometimes while they are still at the school.

The National College Players Association is fighting for the NCAA to go to greater

lengths to protect their athletes. One member of the NCPA, Ramogi Huma, says “their top

priority is not to do right by the players, it’s to do right by the schools and maximize profits and

exposure for member institutions.” Every athlete realizes the risk of their respective sport. Yet,

the Nation Collegiate Athletic Association doesn’t have the backs of their student-athletes.

College sports create a lot of money for numerous people. There are 231 Division 1

schools in the NCAA program. ​Business Insider ​found these 231 schools created $9.15 billion in
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revenue during the 2015 fiscal year. While this is a lot of money, the amount each school

generates greatly varies. 44% of schools make less than $20 million while the University of

Texas and Texas A&M create around $180 million. This means that if a school was to pay for

health coverage for their athletes then the coverage would vary by school. There are many ways

for a school to pay for health coverage, but the student’s coverage shouldn’t vary by how much

money is brought in by the athletic programs. It isn’t fair for a “non-athlete” student to have to

pay for an athlete’s healthcare through their tuition, so likely the money would come from the

athletic program. Again, this is an extreme commitment for the school to take care of their

athletes like this. Yet there seems to be enough money being made so that a couple million could

go to some level of health insurance.

There are millions of college students currently enrolled in higher education. It is

understable that college athletes are a second thought to most people. Athletes are just a fraction

of a percent of total undergraduates. The physical risks they take for themselves and their school

are almost ridiculous to think about. As I covered earlier in the project, schools estimate that one

student-athlete would require a number in six figures. Yet, there is a possible solution to the

money issue.

Celebrities will sometimes insure parts of their body so that if damage occurs to their

image they will be compensated for the losses. It is possible that schools could cover certain

injuries or body parts that occur in various sports. This way a school can conserve resources

while still protecting the students from the most likely injuries. As an example, an ACL tear

during the course of a soccer career is quite common. An ACL tear in a swimmer or golfer is

highly unlikely. The athletic program could purchase coverage for specific injuries per sport.
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There are some obvious holes in the proposal. Freak accidents are bound to happen and

unfortunately would not be covered. Yet, for the sake of resources this is the least a college can

do.

In conclusion, colleges have a wide array of beliefs and procedures about how to handle

the injuries of their college athletes. There isn’t a simple answer to the question of “are

student-athletes protected by their school post-graduation?” There isn’t a lot of unbiased

information that is available to review. Much of the information that has been reported has been

from the student-athlete’s perspective. The NCAA doesn’t release reports on how injuries and the

payments are handled. This creates a situation where only one side of the story is in the media.

The one-sidedness is important to note when studying this subject.

There have been hundreds of thousands of athletes who have enjoyed their collegiate

career without serious injury and go on to live without regrets of their athletic experience. The

cases used in this study are very rare and almost never happen. It would be ignorant to not realize

that most people do not suffer horrific injuries. It would be very costly for any school to cover

their athletes for a one-in-a-million incident. It is only the horror stories that are newsworthy.

College athletes understand the risk they take when they step on the field. However,

nobody thinks that they could be paralyzed during the course of play. It is always the thing that

should happen to “someone else.” However, it is always a possibility. It is important to plan for

the worst but hope for the best. All the athlete can do is measure their love of the game against

the health risks that their respective sport brings.

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References

National College Players Association. (No date provided). NCPA Mission. Mission and Goals.
Retrieved from https://www.ncpanow.org/mission-and-goals

Lepage, C. (2018, May 19). Limbic system structure volumes and associated neurocognitive
functioning in former nfl players. Brain Imaging and Behavior. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs11682-018-9895-z.pdf

Moran, B. (2017, July 24). CTE Found in 99 percent of former NFL players studied. Retrieved
from https://www.bu.edu/research/articles/cte-former-nfl-players/

Peterson, K. (2009, July 15). College athletes stuck with the bill after injuries. New York Times.
Retreived from https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/sports/16athletes.html

Wedro, B. (2018, March 20). Anterior cruciate ligament tear. Medicine Net.
https://www.medicinenet.com/torn_acl/article.htm#torn_anterior_cruciate_ligament_acl_f
acts

Gains, C. (2016, October 14). The difference in how much money schools make off of college
sports is jarring, and it is the biggest obstacle to paying athletes. Business Insider.
Retrieved from
https://www.businessinsider.com/ncaa-schools-college-sports-revenue-2016-10