September 27 was my birthday, and it kinda sucked. I didn’t get to see my parents, no one was interested in the cupcakes I brought for my classmates, and my last class didn’t end until 9 p.m. When I walked back to my car and thought the night couldn’t get any worse, it did. There, sitting on my windshield almost smugly, was a parking ticket.

Now, I have a U permit. So why was I ticketed? Because I happened to have parked in one of the many places where U permits are not allowed. 

First, let me say it’s inane that anybody on campus has to actually buy a parking permit. Students pay thousands of dollars every year for their education. The school is making money from our tuition, our class fees, our book fees, our housing fees,and our meal plans. Is the school so strapped for cash that we must also pay for our own permits?

Student U permits don’t work in every parking lot. Some lots are pay parking only, so even if students bought the highest-end permits (U, CU), they still have to pay to park in some locations on campus. If we have to buy a permit, it should at least allow us to park where spots are open.

People commonly ask, “So then why don’t you just take the shuttle or the UTA bus?” We all know these modes of transportation are not the speediest. Sometimes we sleep in and just don’t have time to take the shuttle to the closest stop and then walk the rest of the way. Same thing with buses. For students who commute, the time between stops are often too long. I had to quit one of my jobs because there was no time between my last class and the time my shift started to take TRAX every day.

Parking passes are cash-grabs that gouge students of more money. I guess $8,000+ a year from 30,000 students is not enough money to pay for unnecessary construction projects. The school’s solution: charge a bunch of those students a couple extra hundred dollars to even get to campus.

When it comes to the tickets, most of them are about twenty dollars, so if you manage to get just six tickets throughout the semester (and I know several people who’ve done just that), you’ll have saved money.

What makes all of this worse is the severe lack of parking space, especially near the dorms. There’s almost always a lack of parking spaces any time after 5 p.m. Sure, there’s pay parking on the street, but then I’m wasting money on top of the cost of a parking pass.

It’s a trap. We buy the passes so that we don’t risk getting tickets, or we pay for the tickets, or we pay for the specific parking space that is the only open space left. And for what? Just so we can get a little closer to the classes we’re paying thousands of dollars for. And of course we’re trying not to miss those classes. Students should just be able to park for free. I’m sick of paying money for merely existing. 

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