Would giving them a monthly “allowance” to cover expenses not covered by their scholarship fix this?
I’ve seen social media posts about kids not eating, not having enough money for gas, etc. I’m thinking you could give them a living expense especially in the non school months to help cover costs without them losing eligibility.
They already get cash stipends for this purpose! Something I've argued for by the way. This is one reason I feel that misinformation or misunderstanding is part of the issue. In the past this was an issue, but they get thousands of dollars cash yearly now, which do cover these gaps (even if the players don't have a job, which they are free to do). Furthermore there used to be some issues because the NCAA restricted the food that could be provided, but that's now lifted as well. I'm for things like that by the way, I want the athletes to be completely and adequately taken care of.
College kids moved away from this train of thought years ago because Title IX forced them to do so. They now want to be free to make money from their name and likeness. It costs the schools nothing. The money comes from the businesses willing to pay them.
This also takes Title IX completely out of the picture since the pay comes from entities other than the schools. All athletes should be allowed to seek these contracts, men and women, based on their personal marketability.
Why would anyone oppose this?
I'll start with your question. Because it is an outside entity imposing their will on the NCAA, a voluntary organization. It's saying you have to do it this way. Remember, no one, anywhere is making these players play NCAA college football.
The bigger issue here though is that this is basically forcing the NCAA to give up on the notion of amateurism entirely. You can't really say ok you are compensated professionals, a little bit. Once you say these guys can be paid an unlimited amount of money
as football players, there's nothing left of the amateur model. Anyone can pay what ever they want to induce a player to go to a particular school, and that's the thread that people can keep pulling on to unravel the whole thing. That's the goal to by the way, a lot of people out there that don't want to tear the whole thing down.
There's a lot of consequences with that though, as JessN alluded to...
Having said all that, I do think there are more pro-player things that can be done within the amateur model to take even better care of the players. But it is not the place of outside entities who honestly don't care what happens (beyond pushing an agenda) to determine how this is done.