Before the start of the school year students were made aware that parking decals this school year would be made available but with a steep increase from $5 to $20. Without any physical improvements being made to the parking lot the 300 percent increase in price seems ridiculous for students to have to pay more money for less than ideal situations.

All high schools in Hillsborough County have had an increase in price for parking decals, but with no explanation to why the price has gone up.

Plant has more seniors and juniors who want to park their cars at school than spaces available, leaving a high demand for the parking spots and leading some students parking in the lot without parking tags.

Seniors are given priority for the

parking tags and buy a majority of the available parking tags then after then juniors who hold gold and black cards are given the opportunity to buy the remaining tags.

Even though typically wealthier students park their cars at school some students are responsible for paying for their parking tag. Students who already pay for their car and or insurance have another strain added to pay for the parking tags

Many schools offer assigned parking lot spaces to students and allow them to personalize their space for the year and to minimize the stress in the morning of nding a parking spot. If plant im- plemented this practice students would be more willing to pay a high price for parking.

At dismissal the lot is known among students for being overcrowded and dif cult to get out of, leaving students stuck waiting in car lines for long periods of time waiting for a chance to leave school, sometimes taking more than 10 minutes.

While some may argue parking on campus is a privilege and that if students don’t want to pay to park at school then they can park farther at the parking lot on Himes and Empedrado. But in the hot Florida sun walking that distance in over 90 degrees weather, while lugging a 20-pound backpack is undesirable.

During the Christmas season two rows of the parking lot are used to sell Christmas trees, but during the school year all of the spaces in the parking lot are needed. In previous years students have resulted to parking on the grass in front of the school during this time of year because there are no spaces left.

Hillsborough County increasing the price of parking decals so dramatically after the span of one school year is unfair to students, and unless any major construction is done to improve student parking then it’s a waste of money com- pared to previous years.