re: $126,935 is the average annual cost of a Student-Athlete at Alabama.

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For one thing, the Universities have a monopoly on College Football. They set the price for what the Players get from a scholarship. If there was competition from another organization, that price would be a lot higher. The NCAA falls under the guise of an amateur organization, they list athletes that way so they can justify not paying the players at a market rate, based on claiming they are just like other students.

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For one thing, you are wrong.
College kids play college kids.
High school kids play high school kids.
Middle school kids play middle school kids.

If you are setting a value on these kids as athletes, you are fooling yourself because that value is only relevant to the level of football that they play in.
If they move up, they offer little to no value.

The entire idea of market value is BS because it is only relevant to who they play. That is why the NFL doesn't want to babysit teenagers. The same for the CFL.

If there is only one reason why these kids hold value and that value is amateur athletics, then they can choose to play amateur athletics or not.

And they choose to because it covers education. Covers room and board. Covers healthcare. They get stipends for cost of attending. They get stipends for living off campus. They can get other grants and subsidies reserved for college students. Unlike any college student outside of the military academies, they are not hurting for cash (unless they don't know how to spend).