With a new school year, comes a new crowd of students running around attempting to get their books and/or book waivers. Besides books, this year they will also have to run and get their CTA U-Pass, made possible by the NEIU Student Government Association (SGA).
Although the much anticipated U-Pass has been welcomed with open arms by many students, some cringe at its mere mention. Jaime Goldfine, a communications major in her third year, called the U-Pass useless, adding that it would have been more useful for the school to give her the money she has to pay for the U-Pass, which she could better use as gas money to get to school.
Many students who live in the suburbs, like Goldfine, would know that the U-Pass is useless on the PACE and Metra trains, but that is because of CTA’s implemented guidelines. It is not just the students that live in the suburbs that are crying foul at the U-Pass. It’s also students who live within the city. Martin Sandoval, a junior, psychology major, has stated that he, “clearly can see both positives and negatives of the U-Pass”, but one thing he says that is bothering for the students is the fact that they are being charged over a $100 fee for the U-Pass, as well as a parking fee.
Unlike the parking fee, students cannot opt out of the UPass fee. So, not only are they being charged the $146 for parking but they’re also being charged an extra $102 for something that they might not always use. Emanuel Zwick, a business major , also agrees with Sandoval, but went further by breaking down his usage and the cost of the U-Pass based on his own mathematical formula, “I’ll likely use it zero to four times per month, which will sum to around ten dollars monthly. Over four months, that totals to $40, which is much less than the $100 plus I am now required to pay for it. If it was usable on the Metra, then I would be more willing to deal with having to pay for it.”
As for the cost of the U-Pass over a span of several semesters Zwick states “The fee on a semester basis is a little over $100. When you take into account two semesters of schooling, the total comes to a little over $200 annually. $100 a semester multiplied by eight semesters equals $800. Tuition alone for five classes taken for two semesters is approximately $8,000 per year. The yearly add on for the U-Pass is adding an extra 2.5 percent on to the tuition cost.” Zwick went on to say, “The idea of the U-Pass is good, but it needs to have an opt-out provision. If it did, then everyone would be happy.”