Show them the money

Surprise, surprise. Reggie Bush had a few very generous friends at USC...oh, um, "allegedly." Well, you can bet that Leinart and Lendale saw their share of that generosity as well.
So when the NCAA's most star-studded dynasty in recent memory is proven to have been held together by the best kind of glue possible in college sports, illegal money, it might be time for the NCAA to relook its policy on paying college athletes.
Nay, it IS time. It's already long overdue.
Amendment 1: College athletes should be paid. Plain and simple. Students who work in the cafeteria, as security guards, or as RAs all get paychecks, so why can't athletes? Even if they don't ever go to class or do their own homework (which is likely) the training and traveling required of college athletes leaves them little time to find a job. If they were given a modest paycheck based on the cost of living in the area (I'd say about $1,000-$1,500 a month in the midwest), that would eliminate a lot of the problems. The people this would help the most are the kids from low-income families that want to be role players on a team.
Amendment 2: Athletes who have an NFL contract in their future should be allowed to receive loans. There should definitely be a limit on the amount they can receive, but if an agent wants to invest in a kid, why should the NCAA stop him? I would say there would have to be some kind of stipulation that would forgive the debt if the player suffered a career-ending injury. It's tough enough to face the world with a degree that you didn't really earn. Having collection agencies at your throat doesn't help.

Until the rules are changed, star athletes will continue to get paid for fake jobs, receive free vacations, have others pay the rent for their apartments, and everything else. This is the reality, and the NCAA has to stop ignoring it. Instead of slapping schools with fines and suspensions, they need to fix the problem at its roots.