If there’s one thing everyone can agree on, it’s that the price of parking passes is far too high. Not only that, but you better be fighting to get a spot, or you’ll miss out and be forced to walk all the way across campus. It’s no wonder many students just risk getting a parking ticket rather than buy the pass … It costs less!

I pay tens of thousands of dollars to go to this university. Why in the world should I have to spend another $400 just to be able to get around? I can confidently say, and I am sure I will be preaching to the choir on this one, that the University parking system is a racket!

As if the whopping $177 million that comes solely from Alabama Athletics wasn’t enough, the parking revenues are a nice addition to the University’s pockets. While we don’t know the exact figures for parking revenue, other similarly sized schools make somewhere in the millions, so it’s safe to say that the University follows suit. It’s a pretty big slap in the face knowing that I have to give even more money to a school that already takes home millions every year. 

Not only is parking ridiculously expensive, but the number of places you can actually park at is laughable. Northeast Commuter passes, one of the more popular passes with a hefty $345 price tag, are, in my experience, nearly useless due to how few spots close to academic buildings are actually available on a daily basis. The same applies to pretty much all of the parking passes. Quite frankly, it’s absurd that I’m breaking the bank for a spot that I find is more often than not completely full or a staggering distance away from where I need to be. Any commuter students can tell you that fighting for a spot is a game you will play just about every time you come to campus for class.

On top of that, students in Greek life feel an even deeper burn when they realize just how hard it is to drive to their fraternity or sorority house – yes, the same house that they pay thousands of dollars a semester in dues to be a part of. Those students either have to get on their knees and pray that a spot is available in their tiny, private house lots or risk getting a ticket on Jefferson just to run into the house and get a bite to eat. The problem extends to the faculty as well. It is downright shameful that the University makes its own employees pay for a parking pass. Not only that, but they are often forced into the sorority parking deck, which rapidly hits capacity early in the day.  

Yes, I will admit that with a massive school like The University of Alabama, it’s simply not going to be possible to let everybody park. But, parking prices need to be controlled so that both students and faculty can have a fair chance to park on campus without being extorted out of hundreds of dollars.