<p>My DD decided to take her car to the college where she is interning for the summer. The car was necessary because of various appointments and weekly grocery runs.</p>
<p>During the first week of the program, my DD and the other interns went on a field trip. She left her car where students were allowed to park. Unfortunately signs were posted, AFTER she had left for this trip, for students to remove their cars because of an upcoming event.</p>
<p>Since my DD had to register her car with the university, she received an email that her car had to be moved by a certain time or it would be towed. My DD sent me a text and was frustrated at the fact that there was no way she would be back in time to move her car. In addition, she was told that the ticket would cost $85 - $110 depending on the towing company.</p>
<p>I called campus police immediately and subsequently parking services the following day. After talking to at least 4 people, I became frustrated because, in some instances, students may only be given a 24-hour notice to move their cars.</p>
<p>After explaining the situation my daughter was placed in, no one would agree that the fee would be waived. </p>
<p>Am I being unreasonable to ask that the fee be waived or should I just write a check because it will go to the financial aid fund (sarcasm)?</p>
<p>This is your daughter’s fight to pick. She should work with her department, and get an arrangement set up so that the interns aren’t hit like this every time the program takes the lot of them out of town. Surely she isn’t the only one suffering right now.</p>
<p>@ happymomof1 My daughter will submit an explanation and a check to pay the fine. Fines must be paid while you appeal. If her appeal is denied then I will get involved.</p>
<p>I’d suggest that you talk to the people running the internship program, since multiple interns got tickets. (It sounds as though you have just talked with police and parking so far.) The events with special parking rules are likely to be repeated in coming years, and they need to know about it. Also, they may be able to get a waiver for all of the students.</p>
<p>The same thing happened to ME 35 years ago in college. I agree with @thumper1 - 24 hours is more than enough notice. </p>
<p>That said, your daughter, with the other affected interns, should talk to the program director about this situation. It won’t get rid of the current fines and costs, but hopefully the summer program will do a better job of helping their participants. </p>
<p>When you bring a car to college, you need to read up on all of the ramifications of doing so. Understand that you will be NAILED if you put yourself in a situation where you cannot move the car when told you have to do so. Happens all of the time in the village where I live. You park your car on a parade route or other place the village wants cleared for some street fair, “Taste of Town” or other such event, and you are unlucky enough to park it right before they post the signs, you get your car towed and, though, yes, you certainly can contest it, the chances of winning are about zilch. That you park your car ANYWHERE and leave it when something comes up and it needs to be moved, you are liable most of the time. The college is not doing anything exceptional in this case. Clearly, you cannot park the car on campus for any period of time where you cannot get to it and remove it for an event. </p>
<p>So, it’s a life lesson learned. Happens in NYC all of the time, in my village, in a lot of places. It’s not a good idea to just leave a car in a spot for a period of time unless you get prior permission that it can so be done from those who can give such permission. Won’t get it in my village. On a snow route, or something comes up, and you are in the way, you get towed. They aren’t going to fool around and you have to deal with the towing company about the charges to get your car back. </p>
<p>@CTTC Although I own the car, campus police and parking services were willing to discuss the situation with me. I am not sure why the information I requested would be considered confidential.</p>
<p>@SlackerMomMD Your suggestion was exactly what I discussed with my DD since she was told to park in that particular lot before leaving for the trip.</p>
<p>@cptofthehouse Unfortunately, my daughter was not in a position to move her car but she is not at fault here. One lesson she has learned is to make sure she talks to Parking Services before going on another trip instead of relying on information given by the program’s TA.</p>
<p>Yes, she should bring it up with the people in charge of the internship program. I doubt anything would be done about the ticket she got, but better planning could prevent such situations in the future(and count your blessings that it is such a “small” fee - in my neck of the woods, this could be upwards of $300).</p>
<p>Whoever was in charge of putting up the no parking signs was probably late in doing so and will never confess to being late. </p>
<p>S1’a school didn’t even bother to write parking tickets. They just charged them to his student account so the first we heard of them was on the quarterly statement…and then HE heard about them.</p>
<p>24 hours is not adequate notice to move a car from a university parking space if the student is on a university-sponsored multi-day field trip away from campus, and the notice goes up after the field trip starts.</p>
<p>I agree that money from a towing company isn’t coming back from the company. I’m not clear on whether the car got towed or not. Money paid to the campus parking whatever-they-call-it-there for a ticket might be refundable.</p>
<p>If I were running a summer internship program and my students got hit up for unexpected parking fines, then I would find some way to make the cost back up to them–particularly if they had been told to park in that lot! The way to even the finances back out might need to involve overtime work, depending on the specifics of the internship arrangement, but this seems to be a case where the student acted in good faith, and the internship sponsors did not anticipate the problem.</p>
<p>To be honest, university parking policies are one of the reasons I will not be donating money to my alma mater. Parking on campus is not always optional, for schools the size of towns and/or students who live off campus! Despite this fact, universities treat parking almost entirely as a revenue stream rather than as a service to be provided. I have missed classes due to all the parking being taken up for non-academic special events, missed meals because an expired meter cost 4x what it would off-campus.</p>
<p>Short answer: you are not getting the money back. They have your money, and they don’t care about anything else. For them, you are describing a best case scenario.</p>
<p>@QuantM The summer intern program is going to pay for the fines received by interns. My daughter said that if anyone had already paid the ticket then they would be reimbursed. </p>
<p>When I had previously spoken with someone at Parking Services, I was told that my daughter would have gotten a sheet containing information about the upcoming event and the places where students should not park. Because I had prepaid for the parking sticker, which I am sure most of the other interns did as well, the sticker was sent to the Program Office and given to students as they checked in.</p>
<p>It seems that the TA, who distributed the parking stickers, simply forgot to mention the upcoming event and restrictions on parking for that weekend. I believe this is why the summer intern program is paying for these fines.</p>
<p>@QuantM I did not realize that when a car is towed, one may get fined for parking and towing. Parking Services explained that the fine would be for the towing service only since my daughter had a University parking permit.</p>