Sheesh, Its being paid but in your opinion its not being paid enough, to say its not compensation (aka "pay/paid") is nonsense. Its not merely food and shelter either, its a free education that has become very expensive if one had to actually earn the dollars required to pay for it.
Skipping the process of issuing dollars to the athlete he has to pay tax on and then immediately turnaround and pay for the room, board and education doesnt magically cause this transaction not to be considered pay.
What you want is them to have a cash stipend on top of their paid education, room & board which I have no problem with but saying they are not paid will never be true no matter how many times someone tries to twist logic into the nonsensical pretzel required to claim they are not paid