Lynn: Redistribution of Expensive Bus Passes
Yesterday, I got my first taste of what it would be like with Obama in office another four unbearably long years. My eldest daughter is in college, and in the process of making a tuition payment, I discovered that she was being charged all kinds of silly fees. If you’ve ever been through Escrow, you know what I’m talking about.
Anyhow, she was being charged a $27 Transportation Fee. Huh? We just bought her a car this summer so that she would be able to get to and from school on her own. We ‘re paying for her car insurance, too — and we even threw in a AAA card for roadside assistance. The girl is completely dialed in to get to and from school on her own.
So I called the college and discovered that the “Transportation Fee” was to help offset the high cost of bus passes for all the other students who had to take the bus. As the traffic czar told me, “Bus passes are about $340 a year, and most of our students can’t afford that. So this helps bring the cost down.”
I explained to him that my daughter had her own car and wouldn’t ever need to take the bus, and that I wanted the $27 fee waived. Call me heartless (or a right-winger, some might say) but I don’t think we should have to pay for the cost of other students’ bus fare. That’s THEIR parents’ expense, not mine.
So I suggested that perhaps some of that collective $27 per student go toward helping to offset my daughter’s gas costs getting to and from school. That seems fair, doesn’t it?
Complete silence on the other end of the phone.
If you can afford to buy your daughter a car, insurance, gas and an AAA membership, $27 is chump change to you. But $340 could be critically important to somebody else.
well u shouldn’t be so snooty towards her, Kathleen. Maybe it took her a long time of hard saving to pay for all her daughter’s stuff. Yes, $340 important to someone else, but that doesnt’t mean they don’t have to pay their money at all. they could get loans for the bus fare fee. And thats what i have to say, i wouldn’t want to [ay the money either!
Kathleen,
Thanks for your response. Without getting into the intricacies of my divorce, my ex-husband bought our daughter the car and insurance because he could afford it. I paid for the Triple A membership because it is what I could afford, as a single mom. But you’re missing my point. Yes, $27 is chump change, but the idea that we should all have to share one another’s expenses is ludicrous. So if I come up short on rent this month, will you kick in a few extra bucks for me? I realize you don’t know me, but hey, we are all part of the human race, right?
This dialogue that you and I are having underscores the much larger debate in this country over the redistribution of wealth. I am not wealthy, but I certainly don’t begrudge anyone who is. I am sure they worked hard for it — just like all of us in this country have the freedom and liberty to do. That’s the point: work hard, live within your means and never give up on the American dream. Too many of our countrymen have died for it.
Good job sticking up for yourself Lynn! I agree with you completly, and totally understand where you’re coming from( though i am not married).
Lynn, I guess we have a lot in common as I am a single mom, too. My kids are adopted, though, so no ex-husband to buy them anything … if I can afford a new car they’ll eventually get my old one which will have 200,000-plus miles on it by then. My industry has taken quite a few hits in recent years and I have not had a raise since 2007. So … I am thinking of sending my kids to college and thinking that they probably could use a subsidized bus pass. And I would be very grateful if other families were willing to help on that issue.
BriLiam, I’m sorry you felt my comments came off as snooty. That was not my intent. I simply wanted to point out that to people in tough financial situations, a subsidized bus pass really means a lot.
Kathleen,
Great to hear from another single mom. Yes, it is a rough ride at times. But before you know it, our children will be gone, so every little sacrifice you have to make, every penny you have to pinch to keep them warm and safe and clothed and fed the short time that they are with you is completely worth it.
I understand where you are coming from on this bus-pass issue — but I still can’t agree with you. What you are leaving out of this equation is your daughter/son’s ability to work, too. In addition to going to school full-time, my daughter also has a job. She makes about $9/hour, and that’s what pays for her gas, some of her food and her clothes.
I don’t know about you, but when I was going to college, I was a full-time student, had two jobs — and sold Avon on the side. Young people have an amazing reserve of energy and grit. The ones with ambition and a solid, realizable goal will do whatever they have to do to achieve it.
That’s what you may be underestimating in your own children.
And that’s what is so magnificent about this country. Opportunities abound to be and to do whatever we dream of. Once we start taking hand-outs and become dependent on other people — and the government — for our survival, we weaken our potential and diminish our freedom.
We don’t need the government to run our lives. We ARE the government!
Well I don’t want to pay for your daughters education which my tax dollars are heavily subsidizing if she goes to a public school, but guess what? I am.