Every year, approximately 556 students at Warren Township High School acquire parking permits. Within my time at Warren, I’ve noticed that many students have been visibly upset about the costs surrounding these permits. This made me ask myself, what exactly does a parking permit do to warrant such a high price? Well, it allows students to park at both campuses during school hours, providing an alternative way of transportation to and from the school.

However, these parking permits come with a hefty price of $320, a price most students deem unfathomable. In the Fiscal Year of 2018, both campuses collected a combined total of $222,228.00 solely from the sale of these permits. Shocking, right? In response to these concerns, I took it upon myself to set up a meeting with the Board Treasurer and Assistant Superintendent of Business Services and Operations, Mike Engel, to discuss the prices of the permits.

The very first question that came to mind was: why are these parking permits so expensive? Here, Mr. Engel broke down the different categories that the money from permits goes to which includes, but is not limited to: police department contract costs, security contract costs, administrative costs, insurance, and parking lot maintenance.

Parking lot maintenance is one of the more significant contributing factors to the price because it covers crack and hole filling, sealing, striping, curb work, plowing, and salting. Although this explained why the prices were so steep, I remained curious as to why the permits could not be free to students. So, I followed up by asking just that. Mr. Engel emphasized that the money for maintaining the parking lots had to come from somewhere and if students were not the ones paying for it, it would come from a portion of the revenue from the school’s tax dollars. If this were the case, it would bring forth another problem: taxpayers would become infuriated knowing that the taxes they are paying are going towards parking lot maintenance for a school their child might not even attend. His point being, that students or their parents will ultimately have to pay the price for the permits. 

After speaking with Mr. Engel, I got a chance to speak with Zachary Pagán, the Dean of students GP-O at the Almond Campus. He notified me that although parking permits are priced at $320, the costs of the passes are prorated to allow students who were unable to purchase a pass in the beginning of the year, to obtain one cheaper later in the year.

Mr. Pagán enlightened me when he said students who do not acquire parking permits, get three FREE daily passes before they have to purchase daily passes for five dollars. What does a daily pass allow you to do you might ask? It provides an alternative to purchasing a parking pass by allowing you to park for a day at either of the campuses during school hours. Keep in mind however, if you choose to purchase daily passes after utilizing your free ones, you can buy 64 days worth of passes before you have capped off the price of a parking permit. 

Going back to parking permits, are they ultimately really worth it? Are there ways you can go around it? For one, if you are bothered by the prices, you can resort to taking the bus or having parents drop you off. If proximity to the school permits, you can walk to school or bike. You can also utilize your three free daily passes and find an alternate source of transportation for the other days. However, if you choose to buy a parking permit you can make the most of it by carpooling with several friends and dividing the cost amongst one another. Remember, the choice is always yours!