Simply being a college student is exhausting enough. Having to commute everyday to school only multiplies our stress level, especially when we have to deal with parking, parking enforcement and people who are unable to efficiently park their vehicles between the two perfectly straight lines.

Now, I am usually a very positive person but when it comes to these types of issues, my patience runs very low.

The first week of school, I was running late because I could not find parking. Can you believe there are over 8,000 parking spots at Sacramento State, yet some how that is still not enough parking?

The feeling you get when you do actually find good parking is unexplainable. When I found parking after driving around for about 30 minutes, there were no Daily Parking Permit machines in sight.

I had to make a choice: either take another 15 minutes to walk to a parking lot that had a machine and purchase a pass; be late and possibly be dropped from my anatomy class (which is highly possible); or walk straight to class because my education is more important.

The obvious choice for anyone who understands how difficult it is to get into classes would be to go straight to class.

Some of you might be thinking, “Why didn’t you just buy a semester pass?”

Well, most people don’t have $170 growing in their backyards, but I am working on it. To no surprise, when I came back to buy a permit after my class, there was a mustard-colored envelope with a white parking ticket sitting pretty on top of my windshield.

Who hires parking enforcement to ticket people during the first week?

Either provide some leeway for at least the first two weeks, make semester permits affordable or provide more daily permit machines. Perhaps at the off campus parking lots.

Our lives would be easier even if small adjustments were made.

Everything to do with parking becomes a greater hassle each year, and I am sure commuters can agree with me. But until us students come together and demand changes, things will either remain the same or get worse, and this truth pretty much pertains to everything.