AU students pay $468 per semester for parking, according to AU’s Web site.
Georgetown University students pay $656 per semester to park in lots in Rosslyn, Va., and George Washington University parking permits are $550 a semester. Students at the University of Maryland pay $412 for the full academic year.
Student cars without a current permit can receive a $40 parking ticket, unless they utilize the pay-to-park machines in the Nebraska Avenue lot.
For many students here at AU, the price is simply too high.
“All my friends bring their cars to their colleges and their parking fees are much cheaper,” said Kelsey Pommer, a sophomore in the Kogod School of Business. “If ours was cheaper, I would bring my car to school as well.”
Pommer is one of many students at AU who refuses to pay the parking premiums charged by the university, and uses public transportation to travel around D.C.
Many Washington-area students use the Metrorail and Metrobus system as a more inexpensive way to travel around the city.
“I was intimidated by the city when I first came here, but I found that the Metro system is simple and easy to understand,” said Kim Kroll, a sophomore in Kogod. “I don’t really think you need a car in D.C.”
-KELLY COSTELLO
