You can buy a lot with $144. You can see about 15 movies, buy 288 tacos from Jack in the Box, or you can buy a season pass to Disneyland. ?You can buy any of those things or you can buy a sticker. You might ask what type of sticker costs $144, and who would buy such a sticker? The majority of the students who attend CSUN pay $144 for a sticker. That sticker is a parking pass.

The pass doesn’t even guarantee that students will be able to find any kind of parking without being late to class. The pass doesn’t fend off those students who decide to show up for only the first and last week of school, taking up all the parking that was once available to us. No, this pass merely ensures that the students at CSUN can park in any student lot on campus without getting a ticket.

CSUN is known for having horrible parking availability. The reason behind the reputation is that CSUN is a commuter school. School is just a short drive away for some students, but anyone that commutes to CSUN will tell you that you must leave around 30 to 45 minutes early to get parking. This results in wasted gas, as you are likely to catch traffic from the other early commuters who are also trying to park. ?

The pass does come in handy in many ways, however. For starters, tickets will not be placed on vehicles that have a parking pass. This helps to save about $35 from a ticket or, if you are anything like me, any late fees that come from not paying the ticket on time.

For those who have made friends with the parking meter, money that is pumped into this little device adds up, and with time more money has been deposited into it than what would have been spent on a parking pass. In the end, the $144 spent on a pass is cheaper than the money spent when you don’t have one.

?Those who choose to park in neighborhood establishments find parking quicker, and will have saved $144. Many may also applaud the fact that laziness is not an issue for you. The escape from school is quicker when parking off campus because the fight to leave the same parking lot is not a problem. Being stuck in a parking structure listening to the sounds of horns honking from other irritated drivers who just want to go home is a missed experience when parking off campus. Time saved is the ultimate reward when it comes to parking off campus.

In the end, the decision to pay $144 is the best way to avoid losing extra money and time. Coming to campus about 10 minutes before class can get you a parking spot faster. This is because other classes are getting out at the same time. Students can park in a further, less busy lot when the parking structure becomes packed. At times, it is easier to park in no man’s land and hike it than to wait in a line of cars.

When parking in the building structure, please abide by any new changes that have been made. Stops within a structure need to be enforced as much as they are on regular streets. If everyone does this, no one will end up waiting for a dozen cars to pass that decided to ignore the stop.

There is not much to do about the parking situation at CSUN. But there is always an easier way to deal with it than just cursing and honking your horn.