Letter: Matthew Brust on parking

Dear Editor:

I am led to believe that every one of us is guilty of judging something without knowing all of the facts, especially as often as I remember myself doing so.  At times we get acclimated to our own little world and lose touch with much of the rest of the world.  It happens to us all.  At times we get frustrated believing we have it bad, yet fail to take the time to compare ourselves to the rest of the world.  Ignorance can be bliss for the short term, but in the long term we fail to reap the benefits of seeing the whole picture.

I can certainly relate to this in a story from my college years.  While doing my bachelor’s degree in biology at the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point I rented a house with three fellow “nerds”.  Looking at where the four of us are today I can say we all have done well in regard to college.  Despite being good students, we were still ignorant of the big picture at the time.  I remember us venting many times about textbook prices, tuition prices, and parking fees.  I remember thinking the college must be getting rich on our tuition and that the bookstore must be making bank.

We did not understand the technical details of running a college.  When we did our math on why the college should be getting rich we mostly only focused on faculty salaries.  While this is a major expense for higher education, many other factors contribute significant costs, such as building and grounds maintenance, heating and cooling of large buildings, repair and renovations, phone use, technology, and other items I am surely forgetting.  No, the University of Wisconsin Stevens Point was not raising tuition and parking fees to reap greater profit, it was to continue to provide the excellent educational opportunities that it had in the past.

Like most other faculty and staff, I bought a parking permit just prior to the beginning of the fall semester.  As know I talk too much, I had conversation with the staff while purchasing the permit.  It was very surprised to hear that complaints about paying $20/year for parking was excessive were commonplace.  Having spent time at UWSP, UNK, and UNL, I have noted that our parking fees are minimal.

On a recent Saturday evening I decided to look up the cost of parking at other higher education facilities in the region.  My findings suggest we have some of the lowest parking fees in the region.  The table below shows the cost of an annual parking permit at several local colleges and universities.

The variations shown in some cases result from multiple listings of costs based on type of student or location of parking.  All listed prices are based on packages that include daytime parking.  Lower parking rates are available at UNO, but only for strictly nighttime parking.

I too am guilty of venting before knowing enough facts to do so at times.  We are emotional creatures and often get stressed over money.

These data suggest that when it comes to parking fees, the grass is certainly not greener on the other side.

—Dr. Matthew Brust,

Assistant Professor of Biology