Should Laws and NCAA rules be changed to allow student athletes to be financially compensated?

Some thoughts.

For students where there is no opportunity to become a pro or where they know their talents won't get them to the pros, it's a pretty good way to get through college. I don't think anyone is concerned about them. The rules preventing any sort of support are still pretty onerous. You can work a job, but it is hard to be a collegiate athlete, be a good student and maintain a part time job.

For students that want to be pros, compare them to doctors. If you want to be a top end doctor, you will need to go to a top flight college, then a top of the line medical school. This will cost ~300k which you will be expected to pay back from your earnings. If you fail to become a doctor, you will still be expected to pay it back. Top high school athletes hoping to transition to the pros will go to a college where they will receive top of the line instruction in their profession by a team of specialists in their field including a coach specializing in the position, a strength coach, a respected head coach with significant contacts in the industry, a nutritionist, perhaps even a sports psychologist. They will be given state of the art equipment to develop their skills and top flight medical attention if they are injured. For team sports, they will be placed on a team of supporting characters where they can demonstrate their skills, play in world class facilities and be exposed to a national audience where they can get exposure. The university will help them with job placement and promote them to pro teams. If, like aspiring doctors, they had to pay for all of that, it would likely run $100k/year or more. Of course most candidates will not make the pros. Alabama, the big daddy of football machines, placed 12 players in the pros in 2018 breaking their own record of 10 from 2017. National powerhouse Clemson can boast of 47 players since 2010, five a year. What happens to those players who don't make it? They don't have to pay back anything, so all that training, coaching, medical attention, room and board was free.

I think that pro bound college students are getting a solid deal. Looking at a few superstars distorts the big picture. Those few who could strike endorsement deals or sell merchandise will be able to take the very expensive training they received in college and mint money. Those with no shot at the pros weren't going to be making much on the side anyway. I do think that colleges should be allowed to give athletes a stipend, something on the order of $500/month, equivalent to what they could make at a part time job. My caveat is that it should go to all athletes. The long jumper has the same limitations so gets the same stipend as the basketball star.

I mostly agree. You can correct me if I'm wrong. I believe that in many schools, the student can lose their 4 year athletic scholarship if they were to sustain an injury that hinders or prevents them from participating in their sport. Even if that injury had occurred in practice or an actual game.

That's a problem that needs to be addressed. Student athletes have classes, studying, homework, practice, and game day. Half of the games will be other cities, other states, and some clear across the country. They still have to spend time doing other things, such as doing their laundry, eating, taking a shower, and all the other normal routines. Under those circumstances, I can't see student athletes having the time to maintain a part time job. Not unless they plan on getting 1 hour sleep each day.

Do you think they should be permitted to strike endorsement deals while being student athletes?

I totally agree with you, except I believe that amount should be on the order of $1,000/month. I believe that $1,000/month would be equivalent to what they could make at a part time job. Just to put it into perspective, 1,000/month is 12,000/year.
$12,000/year is probably closer to a part time job than $6,000/year.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar and Christine Brennan continue the Crossfire debate
on whether college athletes should get a salary.