The price of parking passes surpasses their value

Seniors lined up the first week of school to buy their parking passes.

Seniors lined up the first week of school to buy their parking passes.

Stav Nachum, News Editor

Since freshman year, I have looked enviously at the seniors who drove to school wishing that I could have the freedom to drive to school each morning. Years passed, I got my license, gained my confidence on the road and before I knew it, it was senior year. Finally, it was my time to get my very own parking pass to put in my little black car.

Things, however, didn’t turn out exactly as I had hoped. When my parents heard the price of the parking passes they were astounded. How could the school ask students to pay $200 for a parking pass that is so far out of the way? With the construction getting in the way of regular parking and the inconvenience of having to walk that far in the morning, my parents didn’t see the point.

Driving is a rite of passage. The parking passes are second only to the coveted driver’s license in any teen’s Declaration of Independence from their parents. People don’t usually have to pay to park at the mall or other suburban areas, so why should school be any different? Why should the barrier of money get in the way of a freedom that is earned, especially at a school as difficult as Jefferson?

While the school may argue that parking is a privilege that students must earn and that there is always a bus to ride to school, I completely disagree. We already have to gain the right to use the parking spots since they count our eighth period absences; why should there be a price on top of that?

School has become unnecessarily expensive for something that is supposed to be public. We need to pay for tests, supplies, and now excessive amounts for parking. Maybe next year they will add a fee for sitting in chairs during lunch since we can just as well sit on the floors instead and chairs are, after all, a privilege.

Especially at a time when money is tight for many families and not many have the spare $200 to pay for their student’s parking pass, this seems an inconsiderate amount of money to request, especially as the construction has caused parking to be quite far from the school and inconvenient. Perhaps if they would simply lower the price due to the location, things would be easier for the students and for their parents who end up actually paying the fees.