Thursday, March 4, 2010

Metro Cards

I woke up pretty early this morning, and I had a chance to put on the news. Normally I don’t watch the news since I have to be at work pretty early but today I don’t have to go into work until 11 am. I also usually don’t watch the news because it’s always something depressing that they are reporting on and today was no different. I heard about the metro cards that they want to take away from students and it really upset me.

Currently in New York local students get free or discounted MTA cards which allow them to go to school and back home. Part of the budget cut ideas that are on the table includes taking away those free cards so that students can start paying for their cards and the MTA makes more money. If this was to happen many students would lose out on different opportunities as they would not have a way of attending school, work, and events.

It really upsets me that people that are appointed high positions such as councelmen, governors, CEO’s etc consider making decisions that could be so detrimental to our local students who at one point will be ruling this country as well. Many schools especially colleges depend on students being able to use free of discounted transportation in order to attend their classes. There are plenty of students in high schools and elementary schools that have parents with low income and their parents can’t provide transit fare for them but almost every college student is broke!

Luckily I had a car when I attended college but many of my friends did not. Berkeley has 3 campuses in New York, 4 in New Jersey and many times students had to go between the different campuses in order to complete their education requirements. I saw many of those students struggle every day because New Jersey does not offer free public transportation to students and it was hard finding money but bus tickets.

I am totally against taking free and discounted metro cards from students and I hope that you agree with me. Stand up for your thoughts and beliefs and give your opinion as well. Every little opinion and vote counts so if you can please go to the www.CW11.com website and stand up for students like yourself to keep your free of discounted tickets.

1 comment:

Gaius Balter said...

Well from a british point of view, I know american students are paying a lot more tuition fees than us. Despite the fact we spend less on our fees, students still struggle with everyday life and it requires some to seek out employment, which is no easy task these days. Therefore I understand and sympathise with your main point on why so many students will be struggling to get from A to B. I really do not understand why they would punish students, when they should be helping them out as much as possible - especially in a big city like New York!