Child development major Diana Gonzalez has to arrive 30 to 40 minutes before her class to make sure she is never late due to needing to buy a parking permit.

Gonzalez says there isn’t a day that goes by where she doesn’t have to wait in a long line to buy the permit from a parking permit dispenser. But on top of that sometimes the machine runs out of paper or takes her money without dispensing a permit.

“I didn’t buy the permit for the whole semester because I don’t have class everyday, so I think it’s more effective (financially) for me this way… As for having to wait in long lines just to buy the permit I think they (campus police) can do something to fix that” Gonzales said.

On the other hand Maria Tapia, child development major has her permit for the semester.

“I have class every day so if I paid for a permit every day I would be wasting more money” Tapia said.

Tapia and Gonzales both receive financial aid, but they use it differently.

“I pay with my financial aid money for my permit. If I didn’t I would definitely buy the semester one,” Gonzales explains.

Biology major Chayden Var doesn’t have financial aid so it represents more of a problem for her when the machines are not functioning properly.

“The parking permit machine has taken my money so many times.” Var said.

She plans to buy her semester permit because she feels she is wasting more money than she should.

“They (parking permit machines) are so not reliable at times.”

Cerritos College Campus Police Chief Richard Bukowiecki said that they have already replaced two machines and they plan on replacing the other in the future. But they have to look into the financial side also.

“Ultimately we would like the replace all of the old permit dispensers, but they are about $14,000 each and they also have monthly fees that are associated with them” Bukowiecki said.