> I was thinking: If a school gives you a scholarship for 4 years, but then
> you don't graduate (like Holzinger, Knuble, etc.) do you think that you
> should have to pay at least part of it back?
 
I don't think so.  Why should they?  Let's face it, the scholarship was so
that they could play hoop/football/hockey/whatever.  It was an athletic
scholarship, not an academic scholarship.  Now if they  didn't complete a
season (not because of injury but because of attitude, etc.) THEN maybe you
could start talking about paybacks.
 
> It seems that more and more people are using college sports as a platform
> into the pros.. Espcially for Basketball and Football.  Colleges are
> their minors.  Hockey isn't so bad -- a few juniors leave and the
> promising ones leave after their senior season ends.
 
Unfortunately in basketball and football especially, there is no minor
league system.  Hockey and baseball both have a non-college route to the
big-time.  A good basketball player has a VERY slim chance of going to the
pros without going to college (straight from high school, Moses Malone and
Darryl Dawkins come to mind as examples.)  I've NEVER heard of a football
player in the NFL who didn't go through a college system.
 
The chief problem I have with all this, though, is that, especially in the
"major" sports of basketball and football, the schools make TONS of money
off these kids, but these kids can't even turn around and con a free lunch
off some sweet old lady, or take a home-cooked meal from an alumni.  So,
after earning tons of money by using these kids, we're going to force them
to "pay back" their scholarship. as though they haven't already many times
over?  As you said the $15,000 is a drop in the bucket to a Chris Webber,
but it is also a drop in the bucket to Michigan, compared to what he brought
in.  (I guess in college hockey the numbers are not nearly as high, but you
must have a standard across the board.  Also, I heard recently that a year
at Harvard next year will be $27,500!  Ouch!)
 
Just my $0.02,
Rick O'Donnell
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Clarkson '87