6 Reasons Why Students Have to Pay for Parking in USA and Other Developed Countries

In the USA and other developed countries, students pay for parking. University authorities have many reasons for doing this. The reasons university authorities charge their students for parking spaces include:

• Revenue generation
• Parking space creation
• School running costs
• Discouragement of non-campus personnel
• Eco-friendliness
• Parking services

Reasons Students Pay for Parking

1. Revenue Generation

Universities all over the world, nay, schools all over the world, have what we call Internally Generated Revenue (IGR). A university has the right to use whatever it can to generate money. In the case of students paying for parking spaces, the universities concerned use it to generate revenue for the schools.

It might interest you to know that these schools also pay for the parking spaces that the students use. Yet, these schools have no other means of paying for these spaces other than to generate their revenue. Charging such money into the school fees of all students will not be justified because specific students use these spaces. The government, too, will not agree to pay for these parking spaces because it has no business doing there.

Therefore, the students who make use of these spaces must pay for what they use. The only way the school authorities can pay for these spaces is to make the students pay for the parking spaces they use since the government does not give them additional money for students’ parking spaces.

2. Parking Spaces Creation

Ordinarily, a nonprofessional may not know that school authorities spend a lot of money on creating parking spaces for students’ vehicles. The students, themselves, do not know that the spaces they park their vehicles cost a lot of money. Only those who are involved in the creation of these parking spaces know that the parking spaces cost money.

When you look at it very well, you will see clearly that creating parking spaces is an extra cost to the running of universities. To cover the costs, school authorities have to raise funds for the payment of the costs of the parking spaces. Since the school authorities cannot build these costs into the school fees for all students to pay, they have to charge those who use these spaces. Remember that the more students who own cars, the more the cost of creating parking spaces for them.

3. School Running Costs

Yes, no school authority denies the fact that students pay for parking. The worrisome aspect of the payment is the amount the students pay and how much money the school generate from the payment for the parking spaces. The truth is that school authorities use the money they generate from these payments for the creation of more parking spaces as more students buy cars.

However, note that paying for parking may not be the only way the school establishments generate their internally generated revenue. Everything put together, the school system uses all the money it generates internally for the running of the school. Schools have many expenses to make.

These expenses force school authorities to look inward to see where they can generate additional funds to meet their expenses. Therefore, students paying for parking is a way for school authorities to generate funds for the running of the schools.

4. Discouragement of Non-Campus Personnel

One of the reasons school authorities make students pay for parking is the discouragement of non-campus personnel from making use of the parking spaces made for faculty. The truth remains that parking spaces in the colleges are often congested. This congestion has its effects on campus life. For this reason, school authorities will always do whatever is within their reach to decongest the campuses.

One may argue that these non-campus personnel could have paid the fees meant for the parking spaces. Nevertheless, the school authorities cannot guarantee the visit of non-campus personnel. The people they are sure of are the campus students.

The parking spaces, too, are meant for the campus students. Therefore, they have to pay for the parking spaces that they use. Whatever the school authorities charge for parking cannot be too much for car owners to pay.

5. Eco-Friendliness

The whole world cries against climate change. Air pollution contributes to climate change. In the same vein, carbon emission is dangerous to human health. All these put together make students paying for parking a justifiable means of making the university environment eco-friendly.

This is so because students paying for parking will discourage some students from bringing their vehicles to school. Many alternatives exist for students coming to campus to study. Students can decide to ride bikes to school.

Fortunately, students do not pay for parking their bicycles. Students can also decide to walk to school. The alternative to going to campus by bus is also there for students. All these means of going to campuses reduce the carbon footprint on the campuses. Nevertheless, if a student must go to campus with his car, then he must pay for parking, period.

6. Parking Services

No student should crucify school authorities for paying for parking. The reason no student should crucify school consultants for parking is that a student who has the money to buy a car should also have the money to park it.

Another reason for this is that the school authorities pay for parking services. It is sad to note that school authorities have no other way of generating funds for parking services that they render to students. Take note of the fact that one thing is to park a car; another thing is to ensure its safety.

Another thing worthy of note is the repair of parking spaces. School authorities spend money repairing and maintaining the parking spaces on their campuses.

People may argue that the parking fees are high. Yet, these people cannot tell how much the school authorities pay for parking services. The more students who have cars, the more parking spaces the school administrators provide and maintain. Therefore, it is of no use if what the students pay for parking is not enough to pay for parking services.

Conclusion

Let me conclude the argument as to whether students should pay for parking or not by stating that students paying for parking are very justifiable. The reason it is justifiable that students pay for parking is that schools spend millions of dollars providing students with spaces for parking their cars. The only way schools can get this money is by making students pay for parking since neither the government nor any other body gives the schools money to pay for parking services.