The parking fee at Pierce is pretty high, especially compared to other campuses, and it doesn’t need to get any higher.
It may get higher anyway, however.
April elections of the Associated Students Organization (ASO) will decide if the fee gets higher or not. The fee for basic parking is $20; $27 for the ASO preferred permit that allows students to park anywhere.
In the upcoming elections, the fee for preferred parking could increase by $3, bringing the price up to $30. The ASO predicts that this increase will bring in an additional $60,000 per semester.
The thing is, any extra revenue will be offset by a decrease in purchased permits, even if only slightly.
While the argument can be made that it’s only a $3 increase and might not affect Pierce students that much, it is still that much more money students have to shell out, especially when you consider the extra $10 that will be added to tuition starting next semester.
The added costs of education just seem to snowball as time passes. If they do raise the fee now, they might do it again later on, leading to even higher student expenses down the line.
Now, I understand that the ASO needs all the funds it can get, especially considering all the recent budget cuts, but not at the expense of the students it is meant to represent.
Another thing to consider is that other student governments have been charging about $10. Apparently they don’t need the revenue, so why we?
If they need extra funds, they could have more fundraisers or something. Besides, many of the things we really need funding for the like finishing all the construction on campus or a cafeteria which the ASO isn’t even in charge of.
I would be more willing to pay extra if the money went to something like that.
The bottom line is, the fee doesn’t need to increase by any amount. There simply isn’t anything the extra money would pay for, such as more club events, that justifies added costs for Pierce students.
In addition, I’m positive there are more creative ways to get more money that do not result in more fees.
Hopefully, the measure will be voted down this April so that we don’t have to pay more for parking.
