The full ride is getting paid thing is sort of a false equivalency. I once had a job that gave out car wash coupons.
They were nice and ended with my car getting a cleaning I’d never pay for. But if a $500 bonus was paid in coupons, even if it was $1,000 worth of them, it ain’t the same thing.
(as for the end of the sport, this is the logical end of all of it. It’s a sport built on being inherently “unfair.” This puts more of that in the light, but doesn’t change the reality)
Wait, did they only pay you in coupons, or was that just a bonus thing?
Either way, that's using a false equivalency to justify a false equivalency.

We're not talking about a cleaner car. We're talking about food, shelter, top notch training facilities (considering that most of these guys have the goal of being a professional athlete), top notch medical / nutritional care, free clothes, and to top it off, a college degree that can be extremely beneficial as a back-up plan if the athletic ambition doesn't pan out. Don't forget that alot of those athletes were also getting a monthly spending stipend as well (which could be used for entertainment spending).
You can live without a cleaner car. A good chunk of the items that these guys (and gals) get are basic survival needs. In the end, isn't that why we go to our jobs everyday, to get the compensation to pay for those things?
From what I now know that I am going to be paying for my son to go to OSU, if I had to guess, putting all those things together and putting a price tag on it would probably be in the $40 - $45,000 range. That's pretty good for an 18 year old.