You have replaced sleeping in with getting up early to babysit, mow lawns, or go to the local restaurant to work for your parking pass for the coming year. The money you have earned is very valuable and you deserve to know what it is going to. At the beginning of every school year, students who want to park in the student parking lot are required to pay $125, or they are not allowed to park. For years, this has been a source of annoyance for many, including myself. Why do we have to pay so much? Where is all the money going? Why don’t other schools have to pay that much? Having these questions answered is more valuable than many would think.

The school doesn’t have to do anything to maintain the parking lot, other than the sinkhole problem that began last year, taking up yet another parking spot. Paying such a large amount of money seems unnecessary, however there is a solid reason behind it.

After contacting main office secretary Paula-Jean Provost, who handles much of the transportation side of things, I found out that the $125 fee mainly contributes to a very costly bus fee for the school. The law does not require bus transportation for high school aged students, but the town of South Hadley felt that the option to take the bus should still exist. So, six buses are available, but with a cost. One bus alone charges the school $55,000, and parking/bus fees bring in a revenue of $25,000 a year. So, this fee has a distinct destination.

As for other schools, fees vary. High schools including Springfield, Holyoke, Chicopee High, and Easthampton park for free, while schools such as Gateway Regional pay a whopping $220. Some schools offer reduced fees for half-year/weeks parking, which would be nice in our school for people who get their license halfway through the year, or borrow their parent’s car when they go on business trips. In addition, Monson high school offers free and priority parking for National Honor Society members, which would most likely encourage a lot of students at our high school to perform better in school.

The real root of the problem can be found in the fact that students have not known what exactly they are paying for, and where their precious dollars are going. Having to pay for through the roof bus costs is understandable; forking over $125 just because you are told to is not.

If you ask nearly any student or parent how they feel about paying such a cost for a parking spot, surely they wouldn’t have positive thoughts, because they may not know where their hard earned money is going. Simply including this information in bus/parking forms would help. Numbers as high as 55,000 are unsettling; not knowing where your money is going is even more of an issue.

With how difficult it is to earn money these days, students and their families certainly deserve to be informed on financial matters regarding all of the many things they pay for annually and daily while in high school.