To the editor
When students at Hillsborough High School apply for a parking pass, it is mandatory to give the school a $35 parking fee. Paying the $35 charge would make more sense if administrators at the school told the students where their money was going.
Students at Hillsborough High School should not have to pay a $35 fee to park each semester unless administrators tell the students why we pay the fee.
Seniors at the high school have to hand in a $35 check along with an application when they want a parking pass. Even though all the students who apply have to hand in a check, it is unknown why we, the students, have to. Why is the price $35? In addition to the original surcharge, if the pass is lost or stolen, there is an extra $20 charge to get a new pass. This in accordance with the parking agreement signed by both the student and the parent.
When I asked a student who graduated in 1999 how much he paid, I was told the fee was only $17.50 per semester. Also, at that time, all the seniors who requested parking received permission because that senior class was a smaller population than that of the existing class.
What is the reasoning behind paying double what the students were paying just four years ago? Although there was speculation that students pay so much because part of the money goes to the parking attendant, nothing was ever confirmed.
It is like buying a car and never test driving it or seeing it. Students do not know why they pay the fee, but they do it any way because they have to.
Administration says that supposedly some of the money goes to a parking attendant. The students basically pay the parking attendant but yet the parking attendant is not responsible for any vandalism that may occur to the cars during the day.
If the attendant were in the parking lot during the day, like she is supposed to be, then nothing bad would happen to the cars. Where is the money going if the only thing the parking attendant is doing is checking to see if people have their parking passes hanging from their rear view mirrors? Why is the fee so large if that is the only thing the parking attendant does during the day?
The students should be getting what they pay for and unfortunately that s not what is happening.
There are two different ways to remedy the problem at hand. One way is to make the parking fee smaller than it currently is. Maybe $17.50 would be more reasonable than $35.
Another way to make parking easier is to not have anybody pay any money at all. Students in previous years did not have to pay any money.
So why is money all of a sudden a necessity? Back then, there was no parking attendant and things worked out just fine. People did not have to argue about paying a charge.
There would be a lot more peace in the parking lot. Before students got the passes there also would not have to be that scramble to pull together the money.
Students should be exempt from fees when parking their cars at Hillsborough High School. It is unfair to the students to make them pay such a large amount when years ago nobody had to pay at all. It is also unfair to have to buy a new parking pass if the one initially given to you goes missing. There is no reason for the cost to be so excessive.
Hillsborough High School

