Anyone who attends Pierce College knows about the problems regarding parking.
Whether you have heard from other students or have indulged in the complaints yourself, its common knowledge around the campus that parking spots are few and far between.
Currently, students have to pay for a parking permit in order to use the lots.
A non-preferred permit, allowing students to park in Lot 5, costs a total of $20.00, and a preferred permit, letting students park in all lots and on allowed streets, costs $27.00.
These prices, set by the Associated Students Organization (ASO), might be rising in cost quite soon.
This raise in cost will be determined by the April student elections and could provide Pierce with additional funds of up to $60,000.
During these student elections, ASO members will determine whether the prices for parking permits should raise, stay the same, or possibly even be lowered considering the fact that, currently, most student governments only charge approximately $10.00.
While many students are opposed to the increased prices, I think that raising these costs will solve a multitude of problems around campus.
For starters, the extra money that would be generated as a result could be used to vastly improve the campus or finance the beginnings of new programs.
Although it hasn’t been decided on for certain what the money will fund, the possibilities are immense and beneficial to both students and faculty members alike.
With any luck, the $60,000 could even be used to build new and improved parking facilities, allowing the price to be lowered in the future while still providing students with adequate parking spaces.
Aside from the clear monetary benefits the raise would provide the school, the increase would also make the permit less attainable for students, thus opening up more parking spaces.
While this could definitely be seen as a negative aspect, especially since parking significantly enhances after the permits are required anyway, there are many positive facets to this as well.
With less people buying parking permits, the students who do choose to spend the extra cash will get to park closer to their classes than ever before.