By Ashley Nelson

Lakota West H.S.

Kyle Meadows, a senior at Lakota West High School, recently committed to the University of Kentucky to play football.

UK was one of several schools battling it out for Meadows, including Oklahoma. When asked about why UK was the school for him, he stated that he will be playing as a Wildcat his freshman year, important to Meadows because of his lofty goal of eventually making it to the NFL.

However, when asked what kept him motivated he stated that acquiring a college degree is important to him and football has made achieving this goal simpler with his full-ride scholarship to UK.

Student athletes, like Meadows, across the nation are investing time and money in making strides in sports to achieve something becoming more and more difficult: obtaining a college education.

The cost of a college degree has increased 1,120 percent over the last 30 years and it continues to increase each year. This fact makes scholarships more important than ever to families looking for ways to pay the hefty sum that is required to obtain a college degree.

Last year there were more than 400,000 NCAA student-registered athletes. This number continues to increase as the possibilities of financial help skyrocket if you play a sport for a collegiate program.

Meadows is one of the many athletes who have dedicated themselves to a sport, to relieve the burden of paying for college tuition. As college tuition keeps increasing, expect more and more high school students to strap on their cleats.