Pete Moye’
Opinion Button

To pay or not to pay that is the question. I have been a student at Cerritos College for four years and feel very strongly that I should be allowed to park in any place that I choose including outside of the designated parking lot. Throughout my time at Cerritos I have spent nearly 500 dollars in parking fines and due to my struggle financially I feel it is appropriate to exercise the right to park in public parking spaces nearby particularly as a Norwalk resident.

Since my first semester of enrollment in 2006 the prices to attend school have increased dramatically and are predicted to continue to rise increasing the difficulty to have extra money to pay for parking. On many occasions finding a parking space somewhat close to class is tough especially with such a busy schedule as opposed to parking on by home depot which is close to my classes.

Everyday at Cerritos there are many practices that for a public institution I consider unethical. The policies of campus police to ticket so many cars and creating a mutually beneficial profit for the local tow truck company to me creates a disservice to the students of Cerritos College. We go to school to make a better living for ourselves and many end up with debt to the local organizations unnecessarily.

I have also had two experiences not of my own but of close friends whose cars were towed off of campus for failing to have registration. I love our country and have always felt blessed to be provided with a society that helps others but when I witnessed these experiences I learned that our schools administration is often heartless in regard to student’s personal difficulties in paying fines.

I could honestly get into a legal debate on this topic but for the sake of this particular piece I will leave it that.

I believe in integrity and the principal of giving respect in order to receive respect. As a college student I have learned time and time again that the public school system fails to respect the body of its constituents as a co-leading force in the direction of the institution and to me that is a sad reality.

There are many facets of student life at Cerritos that could be improved but also many things for us to be thankful for like passionate teachers who often even agree with students on these topics. Finally I will say that I am proud to be a student at Cerritos and am grateful for the networking opportunities Ive had here but as long as our school is being treated as a business I feel it is acceptable to do the same and not use the student parking area if you do not have the extra money to pay for parking.