Aidan Mastandrea
Correspondent
The College’s Student Government is putting forward a new initiative, allowing students to reduce their parking fees by donating canned goods. The action is being called “Food4Fines,” and the organization is pushing to put it in action for the fall 2023 semester.
The Food4Fines policy will consist of a tier system for canned goods that will determine how much money will be deducted. Students will be able to reduce up to 50% off of their ticket fee.
Trish Le, sophomore history & secondary/special education major and student government vice president of campus and community relations, was able to frame this initiative with the help of Freshman Class Council President Hope Margarum.
“Foods4Fines aims to help students fight food insecurity on campus and our community by allowing students to donate canned goods in exchange for reducing their parking fines,” said Le. “At the end of each semester, for one week of collection, we will allow Foods4Fines to be applied towards one unpaid parking permit with all of the necessary information to prove the validity of the ticket,” Le added
All of the donations will go straight to The Shop, the College’s food pantry that is open to both the students and the public. The government is hoping that while this will help students save money, it will also shine a light on The Shop and help aid their efforts to assist those in need of food.
Le worked for months alongside The Shop, as well as several College staff to ultimately get the backing needed to pass this initiative. She and the rest of the student government pushed to give students of the College an opportunity to save a lot of money from parking citations.
“While other colleges only let students reduce up to only $5 off their tickets, we strived to increase that reduction percentage for our students here at TCNJ,” Le added. “I had many meetings with various offices and staff at the College to make this possible.”
Students of the college are looking forward to the“It is exciting and I think it will be very good for students here,” said freshman communications major Claire Okamoto.
As the spring semester comes to a close, Le and the rest of the Student Government continue to work feverishly to make sure the College is a great place for the students that voted them into office.
“Since everyone is on board with this initiative, I have been given the green light to work on the next steps to hopefully implement Foods4Fines for the upcoming fall semester,” said Le. “We will be detailing this initiative and what it will officially look like in the upcoming semester.”
