For the not so small fee of $200, students can pay to park their cars on school grounds for the duration of the school year. Once these passes are purchased, they should belong to the student owner. However, school authorities still feel it is within their rights to confiscate these purchased passes when students are late, despite this.

                In theory, this concept seems rational and effective: students should not be late to school, and so they should be punished. However, when a business plan is put into place –with the school making a profit on what should arguably be a free right for public school students – the game changes. Students are no longer just students. They become customers who have purchased a service: the right to park. The right to manage their afterschool life in a way which is not restricted to a public bus schedule. The right to be independent.

                Two hundred dollars is a hefty price for anything these days. By comparison, George Mason University’s student parking passes cost $25. Students of this school are paying eight times the amount of a typical pass. It is a wonder that the price has not been dropped, especially in such difficult economic times.

It would seem when a student pays such a large quantity, the parking lot would be taken care of. However, during last week’s two hour delay, students arrived at school only to find an unplowed lot. Two hundred dollars is already a large price, and so what that should cover is a clean lot when students come to school. So where does the money go? The school makes an absolute profit on our right to drive to school every day.

The school supervisors should reconsider what they are really offering the students of Robinson when they sell parking passes, and realize that at the present time it is only capital disappointment.