At a local level public education is entirely political and keeping the right people happy. A lot of that results in keeping a competitive sports program, with an emphasis placed on football. Outside of that, you're right, it's entirely about issuing diplomas. What students actually know isn't as important as getting them to pass a standardized test.

I was a college athlete my Freshman year, and I do not think that collegiate athletes should be paid. From a team sponsorship and other avenues, I made a decent amount of money from free equipment and other free things. Entirely legal, might I add. It was for a relatively minor and unimportant sport that doesn't bring in much money though, so it's very different from playing for a D1 Hockey, Football, or Basketball team.

I work with the administrative people at my college on a regular basis nowadays, and witnessing the business end of things is disheartening. Especially when some of the executive level people also happen to work for certain for-profit universities on top of their position here...

But people can't root for their favorite astronaut to win. You're not going to unite half of Pennsylvania against the other half for Penn State and Pittsburgh. Or otherwise have a passing conversation that occurs simply because you like one college team. Okay, end of the half-sarcasm, I once again agree with you. The money spent on sports could be drastically reduced and spent on other things, while still providing a very professional atmosphere and providing recreational value for lots of people.