Driving a car is a privilege, not a right–and it comes with the responsibility of parking your car at school which rightfully comes with a price.

Cerritos College (and other institutions) use the money received from parking fees that we (drivers) pay to help clean up the parking lots, but that’s not the only reason why it’s good to invest in a parking spot.

For many students, a car is something they treasure and take care of as is their well-being, two things that could be affected if parking was free.

If parking was free to students, it would mean that the public could park on campus.

A random person driving down Studebaker Road could park his car anywhere on campus and check out the surroundings or park there and walk off to go elsewhere even when there is ample parking at CVS and The Home Depot.

You know there wouldn’t be any campus police patrolling the area, right?

This means that our cars are in danger.

So what if a person decided to park their car on campus and wander away knowing that there was no security force there to stop them?

Well they wouldn’t need to enforce anything since free parking means anybody is welcome.

Break-ins would become a more common occurrence and some cars could even be stolen.

Then, who would really want to go to school?

Of course, that’s the worst case scenario.

Yes, classes are expensive enough and paying for books doesn’t help either–nor do gas prices.

But, understand what could happen if you don’t pay for certain things in life.

That broken window could cost you a few hundred dollars, that stolen iPod some more tears, or worse yet, the car you’ve lost and cannot replace because one in working order costs a few thousand dollars.

It brings you back to a measly $40 parking permit that allows you to identify with your school and aid campus police in knowing that you are not an evildoer looking to cause havoc.