Athletic departments already lose money but there has been word going around that only profit producing sports (mainly men's basketball and football) should be paid. Only 22 athletic departments made a profit from their athletic department during the 2011-2012 school year. This means only 22 schools could pay student athletes. Everybody could not be represented.
First of all, by paying men's basketball and football players, all women are not able to be paid. Don't they work just as hard? Also, other people such as soccer, tennis, or hockey players would not be paid. Don't they work hard and spend a lot of time playing their sport? They must sacrifice just as much as the basketball and football players.
If the big time high school athletes were to get paid (by colleges), they would most likely go to the colleges who were able to pay these players. This would create a big gap in athletic talent between schools and seeing David taking down Goliath would happen very rarely.