And other reasons I will not buy a parking pass

Now I want to say that I am sure the parking staff are probably delightful. I’m sure in terms of humans, they are just fine; that being said, I hate parking at this school. Not living on campus means that I have to have a car, which means I have to have a parking pass, which means I am out a minimum of $180 each year.

And despite paying to park on campus my freshman year, I somehow managed to rack up parking tickets every single semester I have attended. The last semester I racked up over $100 in parking tickets, and I already have $40 in tickets this semester.

Furthermore, I always get ticketed for the stupidest reasons. Even though I paid to park in the Memorial Union lot, I was still issued a $20 ticket, twice. I was out $50 even though I paid and had every right to be in the lot.

And as a working college student, I don’t have the time to appeal these tickets. It’s not fair to ticket students for not parking correctly in the MU lot when there is snow on the ground, and parking spots aren’t clearly defined.

What’s even sadder is I have been secretly running an experiment to see if it would be cheaper not to buy a parking pass and hope the police miss me on their rounds, or if it’s just cheaper to get the pass. Even with the number of tickets I have accrued and the parking I have paid for, it’s still cheaper than if I had bought the parking pass.

I can’t tell you the number of times I have been ticketed outside the dining center. There is not a dining center near T Lot, and students have a max of 30 minutes to eat before they need to leave or risk getting ticketed, which has happened to me.

How are students that live off-campus supposed to engage and foster relationships with people their age if they can’t so much as eat on campus with other students?

And frankly, it’s sometimes cold as hell in this area of the country. You’re going to have students walk over a mile to the West Dining Center, which they may need to eat at those businesses.

Finally, having lots like T-lot or walking long distances is dangerous, especially if you are like me and have night classes.

Even with the amount of tickets I have accrued and the parking I have paid for, it’s still cheaper than if I would have bought the parking pass 

So not only are we getting nickel-and-dimed by the parking police, there is something to be said about how far away things are located for safety reasons. Even worse, the police as far I was able to find, don’t disclose how much they make per semester ticketing students.

To say that we need a serious update to the parking policies is the understatement of the century. I am so tired of this campus’s policies that I actually don’t park on campus anymore. After the incident where I was out 50 bucks after paying to be in the MU lot, I will never be buying a park pass nor park on campus again.

Frankly, there are plenty of good places to park around here that aren’t on campus, and since I and the parking police are in a feud, I will not be revealing my new location, but know it’s genius.

Even if I live on campus, I will try not to buy a parking pass because I am just so deeply frustrated with the parking systems and policies that this institution has in place. And if you ask, students that walk by will probably feel the same way.

Even my boyfriend, who has to attend classes here for the tri-college program, has no idea where he should park. It’s ridiculous. I also know of faculty who refuse to park on campus and pay for a pass.

I sincerely hope the college does something about this soon because if prospective students ask me about attending school here, I list this as a reason for not attending.

So if you’re looking into going to school here, know the parking sucks.