Do you really need a car on campus if you’re a freshman? Opinions differ, according whom you ask. Bloomsburg freshmen are given the option of having their cars on campus. The cost is $75 a semester, and freshmen likely will have to park in the Blue Lot because they haven’t earned enough credits to park closer.
Jen Widuta, a sophomore, said having a car on campus isn’t a necessity.
“I didn’t and I did fine,” Widuta said. “Although it is awesome to have one, I just didn’t feel like paying for all of that.”
Many other students expressed the same opinion, but sophomore Jackie Calise said having a car was very convenient.
“I had my car on campus my first year, and I didn’t find any problems with it,” Calise said. “You are able to drive whenever you want and going home is much more convenient because you can leave whenever you want. I didn’t have to put my parents through two drives in one day.”
The overall opinion, according to students interviewed, was split.
Bob Klinger, chief director of the BU Police Department, outlined the negatives on the issue.
He said freshman should not have a car on campus because an easy way to leave campus just means students miss out on campus activities and opportunities. But his main reason for opposing fresmen cars on campus was sobering: He said at least one student a year that is killed in a traffic accident going to or from campus.
On campus, Klinger said, student drivers have been safe with few accidents reported. However, the number of parking tickets per year is increasing as the number of cars increase. As expected, as the number of cars goes up, the amount of available parking goes down.
Klinger proposed a solution: “If the classes were spread out more, the availability to spots would increase.”
Although everything Klinger stated is true, the reason many students have a car here is to still have their independence. Students still want to be able to go wherever, whenever and in order to do that, many think they need a car. Students try to establish themselves on their own and in order to do that, they need a job. Since many jobs on campus are taken, students resort to off-campus jobs as a means of making money. Freshman, especially, are at the bottom of the totem pole and have to work that much harder to make a mark in college.
Freshman driving privileges is an issue that won’t disappear anytime soon.
(Image provided by Sava Insurance)
