The price of parking passes surpasses their value
Seniors lined up the first week of school to buy their parking passes.
September 13, 2014
Since freshman year, I have looked enviously at the seniors who drove to school wishing that I could have the freedom to drive to school each morning. Years passed, I got my license, gained my confidence on the road and before I knew it, it was senior year. Finally, it was my time to get my very own parking pass to put in my little black car.
Things, however, didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. When my parents heard the price of the parking passes they were astounded. How could the school ask students to pay $200 for a parking pass that is so far out of the way? With the construction getting in the way of regular parking and the inconvenience of having to walk that far in the morning, my parents didn’t see the point.
Driving is a rite of passage. The parking passes are second only to the coveted driver’s license in any teen’s Declaration of Independence from their parents. People don’t usually have to pay to park at the mall or other suburban areas, so why should school be any different? Why should the barrier of money get in the way of a freedom that is earned, especially at a school as difficult as Jefferson?
While the school may argue that parking is a privilege that students must earn and that there is always a bus to ride to school, I completely disagree. We already have to gain the right to use the parking spots since they count our eighth period absences; why should there be a price on top of that?
School has become unnecessarily expensive for something that is supposed to be public. We need to pay for tests, supplies, and now excessive amounts for parking. Maybe next year they will add a fee for sitting in chairs during lunch since we can just as well sit on the floors instead and chairs are, after all, a privilege.
Especially at a time when money is tight for many families and not many have the spare $200 to pay for their student’s parking pass, this seems an inconsiderate amount of money to request, especially as the construction has caused parking to be quite far from the school and inconvenient. Perhaps if they would simply lower the price due to the location, things would be easier for the students and for their parents who end up actually paying the fees.
Yukta Chidanandan • Sep 30, 2018 at 8:46 pm
“Parking is a privilege” is irrelevant to the cost of the pass. Should parking be a privilege reserved for those with parents willing to drop $200 on an unreserved parking spot somewhere at the school? Or should it be a privilege reserved for responsible student drivers?
Kevin Geng • Sep 14, 2014 at 7:53 pm
I realize there is a lot of annoyance that something other high schoolers take for granted is so difficult at TJ, but being able to park at school is already a privilege and it seems to me like complaining about it is unwarranted.
Pricing for parking is pretty much based on price and demand: if you don’t like what is offered then that’s fine, because someone else will purchase a parking pass instead, and that’s also why parking is paid. Yes, the construction makes parking annoying, but that also goes for a lot of other things at TJ: it’s just a fact of life here.
No one gains the right to a parking spot; it’s a privilege. And not being absent for 8th period hardly counts as “qualifying”, because not being absent from school is expected from all students. Yes, there is already a bus ride to school, and being able to drive to school is just an extra privilege – why shouldn’t the school be able to tax that? And anyone who can afford to purchase and maintain a car can afford $200 for parking.
That probably came out more critically than it should have, but these are just my thoughts. Take them with a pinch of salt, since I’m quite far from owning a car!