Students shouldn’t be charged further

It is not news to any student attending Pacific that parking spaces are in short supply. Whether you are just beginning your college journey or are strolling through your last years as an upperclassmen, it is common knowledge that by 10 a.m. on a weekday, the last few spots within reasonable walking distance of the Forest Grove campus have been claimed.

I noticed this even in my earlier years at Pacific, when the student population was lower. But the number of people is not the only reason that I live in fear of my parking arrangement each day.

The bigger reason: the City of Forest Grove.

It is pretty disgusting the number of neon green slips of paper I have seen being placed under student’s and faculty’s windshield wipers lately as I walk the streets of this small, college town. I personally, have received three parking tickets this year alone.

Sure, the amounts that these tickets charge the violator may not be astronomical; but to a college student, living on Top Ramen at a private university, it may as well be.

I am not only sickened by the fact that those being continuously fined are hardworking students and faculty who give more than enough to this university as it is, but also the fact that this university is a major contributor to the city itself.

As the second oldest chartered university on the west coast, one can understand that as Pacific was first being founded, there was not much of an outer city. But Forest Grove continued to develop around the university and the community that its founders were looking for.

And yet, still, the city looks for more payment from our institution’s educators and the students that look up to them, paying more than they have to learn something new every day.

Even if we are only members of the Forest Grove community for four years, we are community members all the same. Community members are supposed to understand and help each other in achieving their goals.

All I am pointing out is that the work I put in to achieve my goals is clearly not being understood when it comes with even more price tags. This includes being charged an additional fifteen dollars when I cannot leave a class because I am only permitted two hours of parking in front of the World Languages department.