I enjoy exercising, I really do. Anyone else out there enjoy it? I love the sense of accomplishment I get after working up a good sweat running five miles, the familiar ache in my muscles after the punishment I have inflicted. It’s a good feeling. With all the cold, and frequently rainy, weather lately, I’ve been running on the Sanderson track. So far so good, but here’s the problem: I don’t have an updated parking permit.
More than once I have gotten a ticket while parking by the Coliseum for an hour or so. Definitely not what I want to find when I come out to my car after a run. And now they’re threatening me with a boot if I do it again. I have had to resort to biking from Campus Trails to the Sanderson three mornings a week. The ride over isn’t that bad, but have you ever tried to bike a mile after running five? It’s not the easiest thing in the world to do. And if it’s freezing and rainy, not exactly the most enjoyable experience.
For two years I lived on campus and dutifully bought my yearly parking permit. This year I moved into Campus Trails. It’s a little pricey, but I love living here. I’ve got great roommates and it’s still close to campus. Because of this, I chose not to pay $85 for a parking permit this year because I thought it was a ridiculous price for something I’d hardly ever use. And I do hardly ever use it. I bike to all my classes because it’s quicker and saves gas. Why should I pay for a pass to park for an hour, especially when the Coliseum is the catchall parking for all zones and always has parking spots?
Is it fair that I should have to buy a parking pass when it was the university’s policy of freshmen living on campus that made me leave in the first place? I lost priority for dorm rooms when that rule came along, despite having a housing scholarship that covered the best room for four years. So I gave up my housing scholarship (what was it worth, anyway, when they don’t refund you for putting you in cheaper rooms?) and moved off campus.
I would even have bought a permit for the Wise Center since nearly all of my classes are there, but there is not one available, so there seemed no point. But the ticket costs more than the permit! After three tickets, can’t they just give me a permit and be done with it? There’s no earthly way I’m spending $85 on top of all of my tickets. I was just a poor college student trying to save money in the first place; now I’ve lost more than I started with.
What if there was a “Coliseum Only” parking permit for $20 to $30 for people like me who want to use the Sanderson or have a quick errand to run. That side of campus always has room and I’m sure there are a number of students who would see this cheaper permit as advantageous. Then I wouldn’t feel like I was wasting my money for a pass that wouldn’t get much use.
The university should be willing to help students out as much as possible because college is expensive! Right now it seems to me like the university simply wants to make as much money off of students as possible and isn’t interested in helping them not go into debt.
Hannah Kaase is a senior majoring in animal and dairy science. She can be contacted at [email protected].