Students at eleven universities over NSW generated $2,225,546 in parking fines in the last financial year, according to data collected by my good friends at the NSW Office of State Revenue. “Eugh. That’s like 445,110 beers” said All The University Students.
Two of the edu-cash-ional institutions including The University of NSW and the University of Western Sydney issued over a combined 13,000 parking tickets worth $1,177,072 from its staff and students. Although probably mostly its underpaid, overworked students, who -presumably – don’t receive allocated parking spaces like University staff do.
So beside the men and women in khakis and fluorescent vests – whose jobs I do not envy at all, and not just for the khaki and fluorescent vests but for their reality television hopes – who, as university students, can we shift the blame onto? At local councils and university boards can we bemoan a lack of parking facilities? At the State Government can we level well-worn cries at its completely inadequate public transport services? Can we admonish our lecturers for running late and not just recording all the lectures in the first place? Or should we take a long, hard look at ourselves and accept responsibility solely on our own slumped shoulders? Hell no. Blame the parking inspectors/government/lecturers.
Perhaps someone should put forward a Tramsurance-style buddy system between university students, who, if anything, are excellent when it comes to mobilising and banding together to protect our own interests. Instead of pooling funds that will inevitably go toward funding some egotist’s SRC election campaign, next time you see a parking inspectors chalking up somebody’s tyre, wait until they’ve passed and blow it off like a first-year psych tutorial.
That way, university students state and country wide will be able to afford to devote their time and funds towards what is truly important: all the beers studying.
Via The Sun Herald
