It's not like college athletes are unpaid workers, and they certainly aren't compelled to play. But they are, at least theoretically, there to get an education rather than a trip to the pros, just like Celia said. If they want to skip that and go straight to the pros, more power to them, I say (though the NFL, at least, will have to change its policy to allow that) but they should forfeit their eligibility and become professionals in name as well as in fact. Allowing private citizens to pay them wouldn't change the fact that, in the case of the many state schools, taxpayers would be supporting various professional sports teams (stadiums, for example, don't finance themselves, as many professional teams have explained to local communities over the years). What happens if the local businessman for whom the star QB plays gets miffed at his current school and decides to offer his services to a different one, does the "student" athlete have to transfer?