Taking away the things students treasure most is apparently something that Emporia State is good at.

Most recently, the issue is free parking. Until several weeks ago, free parking included a decently-sized parking lot across the street from the Student Recreation Center, along with spaces surrounding the soccer fields. The university decided to get rid of the spaces around the soccer fields to “clean up” the area because they want to make a better first impression.

While the university accommodated the change by creating free parking spaces by the Gray Parking in the Student Recreation Center parking lot, who knows how long they will be there. Because free parking may “go away in a couple of years,” according to Mark Runge, director of University Facilities in an interview with The Bulletin this week. He also said, “But with that said, as you grow older, you’ll find that nothing is for free.”

No kidding.

Tuition has been steadily rising at public universities, and went up 4.9 percent at ESU in just the last year. If we were college students 50 years ago, we’d only be paying pennies compared to what we pay now. And our options for parking passes range from $50-$95 – on top of our tuition, technology fees and campus privileges fees.

Hardly a bargain.

On top of that, our food options at Sodexo sometimes are triple the price of what we could get them somewhere else for. Then, a resolution was proposed to the Budget & Tuition Committee last spring to get rid to flat-tuition – something that is unique about ESU and is attractive to many potential students. Luckily, the resolution was dropped once outraged students condemned the resolution on social media and on campus.

Runge also said that the university spends as much time maintaining the free parking areas as they do the paid-for spots on campus.

Really? I don’t buy that.

The number of free parking spaces is dwarfed in comparison to the amount of paid-for spaces on campus. It certainly didn’t look like free parking was being kept up. These spaces weren’t even located in an asphalt parking lot that needed to be resurfaced. They were located on the outer edges of campus with weed-infested gravel. 

ESU is losing students because of “what we look like,” according to Runge. No – we are losing students because our faculty and administration are not listening to what the students want. To me, keeping minimal free parking spaces is the least that they could do for already financially drained students.

Students want free parking. Students want flat tuition. Students want the best education they can receive without feeling like they need to donate an arm and a leg to scientific research to do so.

But students also want faculty and administration that put their students – not physical appearances – first.