The issue of paid employees becomes somewhat complicated because a number of institutions in the power 5 conferences are state schools. State colleges have to follow state rules about employees, what the benefits are and how those positions are funded. I think if athletes in revenue generating sports become employees, the schools will have little choice but to spin those sports off as professional teams and pay the athletes as state employees. These athletes would not receive scholarships in the normal sense, they would get tuition remission to go to school free. Non-revenue generating sports and their athletes will remain under NCAA control which would allow those athletes to have NIL deals in place and normal scholarships.