Last week I went to get my parking permit for the year. Since I live in campus housing it cost me (well, it cost my parents actually) $95. Before going to get my permit I looked up the price online just to check what it was this year. There along with the on-campus student rate I found out that the rate for commuter students is $50.
I live in Colonie Apartments. This means that I get an H permit. H permits are good for the parking lots by Colonie Apartments, RAHPs, and behind BARH.
Besides the increase in price which I didn’t quite understand, I don’t quite understand why commuter students get to pay $45 less than I do. I don’t get to park any closer to campus than they do; in fact I park even farther away. I’m not saying that commuter students should have to pay $95 too, and I don’t mind paying a bit more than the commuter students, but I don’t understand why I have to pay as much as students who park their cars on the main campus when I don’t get the privilege of parking there.
Students who live in Colonie and RAHPs are the students who live in campus housing that actually need cars. The shuttles don’t run all of the time— especially on weekends—and many of us are not on a meal plan.
It almost seems like I am being penalized because I chose to live in campus housing instead of getting an apartment off campus. There are apartments off campus that are closer than where I live, have off street parking, and are cheaper than where I am living now.
Next year the parking permits are supposed to cost $125. I wonder if I’ll actually live on campus.
