If you drive to school every day, buying a parking pass is mandatory to be able to park anywhere near the building, and those who do not have a pass will be towed. However, seeing as students are legally obligated to be at school, we shouldn’t have to pay $100 a year to access the parking lot.

Due to the current parking rate, many students are instead choosing to park up and down nearby neighborhood streets, taking up all available parking for the residents and crowding the streets. Students prefer to park their car several blocks away than have to pay $50 each semester. Subsequently, this makes the streets extra narrow as cars are parked on both sides, converting the streets to single-lane.

Although I understand that the school enforces a price in order to reserve parking spaces and to make sure that students don’t have to fight for a spot every day, the current price is excessive and is keeping students out. Most students don’t have a lot of money or a significant source of income, so paying $100 a year to use their school’s parking lot in addition to paying for other expenses such as gas, isn’t affordable for all. 

There are many options that could improve the purchasing of a parking permit. One option would be to make the parking passes free and to give them out with a first-come, first-serve process instead. Another option is for Park to instead choose a more affordable price such as $20 to $25 each semester, rather than the current rate of $50 per semester. These options would make using the school parking lot a first-choice, rather than something that is overlooked and would also make parking affordable for all students.

Park should consider lowering the price of the parking passes so that it is more affordable to students and so that they can stop taking up all the neighborhood parking. Administration should assist in making the trip to school every day as easy as possible, parking shouldn’t be an obstacle to getting there.