By Samantha Werkheiser
Editor-in-Chief
When I returned for my final year of college, I was already angered with the increase in tuition prices.
I found myself even more enraged when I discovered that the price of my commuter parking pass had almost doubled since last year.
It’s cheaper to buy the pass if you pay for the whole year, but if this is your last semester, you get cheated.
I wouldn’t be so upset if there was adequate parking on campus, but there isn’t.
I’ve taken to parking at the Fine Arts Building everyday and walking down to my classes in Stroud Hall, because I don’t want to have to drive through each parking lot in hopes of finding that one free parking space.
Almost every morning when I arrive at 9:30, the parking lot behind Dansbury Commons is full.
If there was a parking garage, I would be more understanding of the increase in parking pass prices.
It shouldn’t be such a challenge everyday to find parking.
I can count a number of times that I have been late for class last semester because I couldn’t find parking that was anywhere close to my class, despite leaving my house at a reasonable hour.
It added salt to the wound last week when the Economic Summit was going on and they gave commuter parking to people attending this event.
Another issue that I would like to comment on is the hassle that obtaining the actual physical pass became.
When I went to pick up the pass that I had paid for on MyESU portal, they informed me that they ran out of the plastic pass. They gave me a temporary paper pass and told me to return on Friday of last week for my permanent pass.
Upon arriving last Friday morning, I was informed that the passes had not yet arrived, and to come back the following Monday.
When I went this past Monday to pick it up, I was told that I needed to bring my temporary paper pass back to receive my permanent one.
No one had told me this in my previous times there.
I honestly don’t understand why they ran out of parking passes in the first place. Students have to register whether they are a commuter student or not.
It can be assumed that most commuter students would be purchasing a parking pass, unless they live very close to campus.
All of this being said, the thing that really angers me at the core is that I’m a college student who is already tens of thousands of dollars in debt because of my schooling.
I will be paying off these loans for years to come, and I have yet another added expense, and this is not including the prices of textbooks.
The increase in parking passes just feels like a slap in the face.
I’m on a tight budget to begin with, and the extra $45 a semester doesn’t seem like a lot, but it is for a young college student.
I can sincerely say that I work hard for my money, and it just stings a little that I have to give even more back to the school that is already making a large profit off of my attendance here.
I could understand if it was a slight increase of $10 or $15, but it’s not.
All I want is a fair parking pass price, and I truly don’t feel like the price now is at all just.
Email Samantha at:
swerkheis4@live.esu.edu
