Increase prompted by $70M budget shortfall
Thousands of Loudoun County district high school students got an unwelcome back-to-school present when they returned to classes last week: an eightfold increase in their on-campus parking fee.
The school district has raised the price from $25 to $200 for the academic year to help shore up a budget shortfall that now stands at $70 million.
“It’s in line with what other districts are charging,” Loudoun schools spokesman Wayde Byard said. “We’ve received only a few complaints so far.”
A sampling of high school student parking fees around the region:
Loudoun: $200
Fairfax: $200
Montgomery: $150
Prince William: $100
Frederick: $10 – $30
But student drivers at Loudoun’s Dominion High School are furious, senior Alex Kirschke said. The parking fee increase has hit him and his family especially hard, Alex said, because his father is now unemployed.
“I have a job, so I’m trying to work extra-hard to come up with this money,” Alex said. “In the meantime, I’m seeing how long I can go without buying one before [the school threatens] to tow my car.”
Twenty-five dollars from each pass will go directly into each high school’s budget, while the added $175 will be put into a general fund for use by the district at large. Byard estimates the Loudoun district will bring in $500,000 if the same number of high school students register for parking as did last year.
In nearby Fairfax County, the district also raised student parking fees for the 2009-2010 school year, from $150 to $200. The district expects parking permit revenue to add $250,000 to its budget.
Even though school districts around the Washington area are strapped for cash, they won’t all be raising student parking fees. Montgomery County will keep its parking price tag at $75. And farther down Interstate 270, Frederick County remains a bargain for its high school students to park: The district charges as little as $10 a year to use its lots.
