When I went online to purchase my parking permit for the school year, one thing stood out to me above all else – the $100 cost for a green parking pass. 

I was baffled. I anticipated the cost would be the same $75 it had been the previous year and the additional $25 was a huge shock to me. I couldn’t necessarily afford to spend $100 on a parking pass, but I had no other choice. I live in the dorms and I need my car. I wasn’t going to park on the opposite end of campus in free parking or spend the $75 for a gray pass (previously $50) and hightail it up the hill to my dorm.

So I caved and bought my $100 parking pass just so I could park at the campus that I already pay to be at. 

I’m not the only one who has expressed concern over the rise in parking pass prices. For other students, both on and off campus, graduate assistants, and even ESU faculty and staff, prices for parking have risen compared to last year’s pass prices and they have raised frustrations over having to fork out money for a parking pass. Not everyone has the money to spend a hundred or so dollars or more in order to secure a permit for their spot in a parking lot. This doesn’t even take into account the hefty amount of money spent on metered parking for a couple of hours each day.

In a recent letter to the editor, Zipporah Brown raised the issue with meter parking for ESU employees who park at the meters. 

“With a calculation of a 20-hour work week (working five-hour days, four days a week), leaving out holiday time, the price for metered parking costs $250 for parking, two and a half times the average student pays and two times what the faculty or staff member pays,” Brown said. 

I agree with Brown. Having to pay for parking is outrageous and some would rather walk to campus from their apartment or be minus a car on-campus than pay the fee. Employees should not have to pay to park at their place of work and students should not be made to pay money to park at an institution they are already forking over thousands of dollars to attend. Not to mention many students also call the campus dorms home during the school year. It’s unfair and infeasible for everyone. 

What’s just as infeasible is the small gravel parking lot for “free parking” across the street from the Student Recreation Center. Not only is it poorly kept, but it’s on the very end of campus and far away from buildings like Plumb Hall, Roosevelt, the library, and the science halls. For students who don’t have the money to pay for a pass or have change to put in the meters near these buildings, this is pretty much their only option unless they want to chance it in the CVS parking lot. 

Being made to pay for parking adds unnecessary stress for Emporia State students and is blatantly disrespectful to the faculty and staff that make this institution thrive. If I had it my way, I would rather none of us have to pay at all because we shouldn’t have to – but that’s just wishful thinking. If we’re going to have to continue to pay for parking spaces, ESU has a responsibility to students and their employees to make it more feasible for everyone.