If you have to drive to University of Idaho every day — or at least when it begins to snow — you’ve probably already spent hundreds of dollars on a parking pass.
Whether the permit is green, purple, red, silver or gold, driving to school can be a pricey rate for students who already have trouble paying for tuition.
There is not a lack of free parking near campus, there is none. There should be free parking alternatives for students who need to drive to school, particularly during winter months.
One of the only free parking lots near campus was located on the corner of 6th and Jackson near the Alehouse. However, it has recently became a paid lot. In order to park there during the day, one must now purchase a $95 parking permit.
I don’t know if the university and city think all college students’ parents help pay for living expenses, but it is definitely not the case. A large portion of students can’t afford $95 for a parking permit.
A common reply to the parking problem at UI is “don’t drive to school, Moscow is small enough to walk.” That’s true, but when you have an 8 a.m. class and live past East City Park — like I do — hitting the road before the sun comes up is not particularly easy in the middle of winter.
There can be a middle ground between paying hundreds of dollars for a parking permit and parking freely on campus. If there were a large free parking area just outside of campus, most students wouldn’t mind the five-minute walk it would take to get to class.
Instead, students must ride our bikes to school happily from August until November. Then all of a sudden, the option is out of the question for a period of three to four months — when Moscow’s roads become slick with ice. If a free parking lot sounds like a good idea, then what’s left is to figure out where to put it.
There is an area east of the Moscow Intermodal Transit Center’s parking lot that is an open dirt field, and the Kibbie Dome parking lot is virtually empty during the week.
It’s not that there is no place for free parking, it is that UI likes making more money from both students who pay too much for school, and faculty who don’t get paid enough.
According to the UI Student Fee Schedule for the 2012-13 academic year, the average full-time student pays $325.25 in facility fees and $532.96 in various dedicated activity fees.
I doubt that most students utilize the $858.21 that goes to those areas of the university, and would prefer if a portion of that money would go towards a free parking lot, in which everyone can use.
Amber Emery can be reached at [email protected]