What is a good thesis statement for an essay about college athletes being exploited?

An effective essay about the exploitation of college athletes might focus on the academic, financial, or social aspects of the relationships between the athlete and the institution—or any combination of those three. The first step is to decide which aspects will be central in the analysis. More than a brief statement of opinion, a strong thesis would refer to aspects of the argument that will be central in the text. For example, a thesis emphasizing the academic aspect could argue that the low graduation rates of student athletes indicate that institutions of higher education are exploiting student athletes by ignoring the importance of the academic aspect of their time at college.
Increasingly, institutions of higher education are considering athletes as scholars first and foremost, which represents a significant change from past tendencies. An argument stressing the academic aspects could highlight the criticisms that have led to this change. For example, students were (and sometimes still are) encouraged to place athletics first and largely disregard their academic achievement. This often meant that student athletes earned low GPAs, which disadvantaged them from continuing their education or affected their ability to be hired in non-athlete capacities. In extreme cases, students failed out of school and/or or lost their scholarships.
The financial argument is the one that is most often cited. An essay could explore the merits of treating student athletes as employees and paying them on a scale more comparable to professional athletes. One basis of this argument is that by staying in school, athletes are sacrificing earnings and benefiting the school rather than themselves.
The social argument is also convincing. The idea there is that athletes lose out on the college or university experience because athletics occupy so much of their time and energy. They are unable to participate in other, equally meaningful activities such as music, clubs, and service activities. Although enrolled in college, their lives are much more one-dimensional that those of other students.
https://news.usc.edu/138228/leading-sports-schools-black-athletes-graduation-rates-lower/

https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/15/us/study-of-elite-colleges-finds-athletes-are-isolated-from-classmates.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/26/learning/should-college-athletes-be-paid.html