THE UNIVERSITY DABY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2014
PAGE 4
opinion
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TEXT FREE FOR ALL
It is unnecessary to stand on the seats during basketball games. Don't be that person who ruins it for people behind you.
Greatest thing about the end of Halloween is the discounted Halloween candy.
Unlike other students, I actually like going to lottery.
I'm bringing braids back.
(*queue background singers*)
No one understands how big of a struggle my day is when I go without coffee. I don't feel like a normal person.
I keep wearing my House Targaryen shirt in hopes of meeting a cute Game of Thrones fanboy. Hasn't worked yet...
I've noticed that complaining about not making the FFA's gets people in the FFA's...does this count?
Got my polka dot socks on and a snuggly hoodie...gonna be a great day.
Freshmen on the bus complaining about being late for class while not moving back to let people on the bus. Who's really making you late?
Is it Thanksgiving break yet?
Regardless of what party wins today we need to all do a better job supporting the leaders of our country!
You can add one more to that Backstreet Boys party guest list, I in!
Everyone go download the Tilt app so we can bring Snoop Dogg to KU!
My roommate makes some damn good food & you all should be jealous.
I've never been surrounded by so many old people in my life...#votingday
Can we have an IKEA in Lawrence? Would save me the trip down to Merriam!
3 men charged for feeding a homeless man?!? What is wrong with people?? Let people do something good for this crappy world for once!
BigJay and BabyJay's handlers remind me of those parents who are beyond ready to go home but their child keeps saying 5 more minutes.
Did you wake up this morning? Because you look beautiful.
Limited gameday parking rips off students
Apparently,students faculty and staff may park in the
EDITORIAL
spots they paid more than $200 for only when it's convenient for KU Athletics.
venient for KU Athletics. According to KU Parking & Transit director Donna Hultine, 62 tickets were given to students who parked in yellow lots 90 (outside the Ambler Student Recreation and Fitness Center) and 71 (beside Allen Fieldhouse) and the Allen Fieldhouse garage last night alone — the first night of the KU basketball season. Additional tickets (faculty, visitor and "unidentified" vehicles) tacked on an additional 24 tickets to bring the total to 86. At $25 each, that's $2,150 that KU Parking will pocket
in one night.
Granted, the signs that said the lot was restricted past 5:30 p.m. were posted outside the lots, but why should students move their cars from spots they paid to park in? Especially when students often don't have a spare 45 minutes between class and other commitments to walk to their car, drive around and find a decent place to park and walk back to campus. It's about as much of a hassle to walk 10 minutes to the car, drive 10 minutes to Park & Ride and bus 15 minutes back to campus.
Students pay $225 — more than half of some paychecks
— to park in yellow lots.
Some have class or work past
5:30 p.m. They shouldn't
nave to avoid parking in spots they pay for just because of KU basketball.
Athletics pre-sells these spots to Williams Fund
86
cars were ticketed Nov. 3 in lots 90 and 71 and the Allen Fieldhouse Garage. Sixty-two of those tickets were issued to students.
donors, so unless you donate a minimum $100 to Athletics and are an active Williams Fund member, you're out of luck parking in lot 90 on gamedays.
The larger picture, it seems, is: Athletics has made it clear it does not value KU students, only donors who empty their pockets for prime basketball seating (section U, for example) and parking spots.
At what point will it become clear to Athletics and Parking that students — who are paying thousands of dollars to attend KU, much less an extra $200 to pay for a parking permit — should come first instead of deep-pocketed donors?
There are at least six other lots Williams Fund donors can park in for games, three of which are not yellow lots. While closing more than half of the lots for donors wouldn't be fair, lot 90, at
the very least, should still be open on gamedays for students who pay for the spots. It has the most capacity and is where a majority of off-campus students park for class and work. Another alternative would be to allow those with permits who parked in yellow lots to stay without consequence and close off yellow lots to new cars after the restriction time.
Until Athletics and Parking tell us dollars don't overrule students, we'll park in the spots we paid to park in.
KANSAN CARTOON:
Members of the Editorial Board are Cecilia Cho, Emma LeGault, Christina Carreira, Madison Schultz and Hannah Barling
Financial anxieties can be alleviated through personal finance course
By Helena Buchmann
@helenabee
W when I accepted my federal student loans for
the first time, I was required to sign a promissory note, as well as complete an activity making sure I understood the terms of accepting student loans. I completed the requirements, but if I'm being honest, as a high school senior, I had no clue what it meant. Today, I still don't know what it means.
I barely know the difference between a subsidized and unsubsidized loan. Students are not required to pay back their loans until they're done with school, but what about compound interest? When do I need to start establishing credit? Should I start saving for retirement now? How does one go about doing that? What are stocks and should I get some?
These are all questions that everyone has asked, or will ask, and the answers can be complicated and frazzling. My parents have tried to explain all of this to me, but it is a daunting subject. Luckily, there's a course offered at the
University called FIN 101 Personal Finance. According to the course description, students should be able to answer all of those questions, and more, by the end of the semester. You'll even know how to do things like take out a mortgage.
Students at KU, regardless of their major, should be required to take personal finance. According to the Project on Student Debt, an initiative of the Institute for College Access & Success, 51 percent of KU graduates in 2012 had student debt, and the average debt was $23,468.
In my experience, most people start making financial decisions as late as college and stop making them when you die. We should be prepared to tackle these decisions and problems head-on, and by simply taking an introductory personal finance course, we would ensure that we at least have a fundamental grasp of what we're dealing with and what lies ahead.
Helena Buchmann is a sophmore from Kansas City studying global and international studies
CHIRPS RACK
What do you love most about the month of November?
Follow us on Twitter @KansanOpinion. Tweet us your opinions, and we just might publish them.
@lauwrenorder
@KansanOpinion Leaves. Cold weather.
CHRISTMAS STUFF EVERYWHERE
@Geegs30
@KansanOpinion That it's finally getting cold! As a Minnesotan this "Fall" has been a joke
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FFA OF THE DAY:
I love having basketball updates in my morning paper again. Basketball is back and life is good.
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THE KANSAN EDITORIAL BOARD
(
Members of the Kansan
Editorial Board are Emma
LeGault, Madison Schultz,
Cecilia Cho, Hannah Barling
and Christina Carreira.