As a junior who has lived on campus for almost three years, I have had the duty each semester of purchasing a parking permit so I can have my means of transportation where I live.

My freshman year I was stuck in the horrendous stone field known as Blue Lot, where, let’s be honest, no one should have to park if they aren’t going to keep up with maintenance there. For years, there have been holes so deep in the ground that my car has been damaged and scratched due to the inability to actually drive in the lot. Not to mention the fact that there is no way to plow snow or ice out of there, so the school just leaves it how it is, leaving an ice rink to park on.

I often wondered how my parents would feel about this unfortunate lot I was stuck in. They were unphased until they started to notice the damage that arose from parking my old car in the lot. They asked if there was anywhere else for freshman to park and sadly the answer is no. This is the only location for on-campus freshmen to park.

Luckily, I was able to move to Silver Lot my sophomore year. This lot is in a weird in-between area on campus that was so small that it was usually oversold, so then I would be sent back to the notorious pebble park with the rest of the overflow since there seems to be an oddly high amount of parking permits being sold for a parking lot with not that many spaces.

At this point, I live in an apartment on Upper Campus. I have a parking spot right outside my front door. However, I forgot to repurchase my parking permit and was subsequently ticketed.

Campus tickets are usually around $15 per ticket. They supposedly check the lots every hour, but unless there is a secret team of 2 or 3 dozen parking enforcement persons, how is that even possible? Numerous people in my parking lot had no parking permit for a whole semester, and were they punished in any way? No. Was I for not having my temporary pass on my car at seven in the morning? Yes.

Now, $75 is really not that bad for parking. Off-campus it can be upwards of $400. Still, I am salty and will remain salty.

Sarah is a junior English major and is an Op/Ed Columnist for The Voice.