Boston students may soon have more than overdue library books and unfulfilled credits holding them back from graduation if Boston City Councilor Felix Arroyo’s proposed plan to crack down on unpaid parking tickets is approved.
Arroyo has asked the 33 colleges and universities in the city to begin withholding diplomas and transcripts from students who have unpaid parking tickets.
‘It’s still in the exploratory stages,’ Arroyo said.
Every year the city loses $6.5 million from unpaid parking tickets, almost all of which are from out-of-state offenders, according to Arroyo.
If Massachusetts residents do not pay past due tickets, they cannot renew their licenses, but the restriction does not apply to out-of-state offenders.
‘A conservative estimate is that between 1 and 2 million of that debt was from out-of-state college students,’ Arroyo said.
Arroyo said he does not see any problems with private universities aiding the city in collection of debt their students owe. Boston already merges the private and public sectors by hiring private collection agencies to collect public debt, he said.
Arroyo said the ability of schools to withhold diplomas and transcripts would give students much more incentive to pay. He said schools should accommodate the city because they are non-profit institutions that receive tax breaks from the city.
‘We are looking for some level of reciprocity here,’ Arroyo said.
Legal technicalities exist within the proposal, however. Arroyo said legal issues may arise by publicly identifying people who do not pay.
The Boston City Council already met regarding the proposal and is now discussing the issue with the 33 schools and the city’s parking division, according to Arroyo.
‘We hope they will all cooperate,’ he said. Only Northeastern University and Suffolk University attended the most recent talks, however.
Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said he has not read the specific language of the proposal. He declined to comment on what BU’s official stance would be toward such a proposal.
‘The university expects its students to abide by the law, and of course pay any parking tickets that are properly received and they are responsible for,’ he said.
Arroyo, who was a BU professor about 10 years ago, said ‘many students think they can just leave and the tickets will disappear; they don’t.’
Arroyo said he does not currently have any personal outstanding parking tickets.
‘I have had them in the past,’ he said, ‘but I pay them.’
Student sentiment about the proposal across the BU campus is mixed. Many said they feel the shortage of parking in Boston causes too many tickets to be written out.
‘My paying to go to school here has nothing to do with where I park my car,’ said James Bergamo, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. ‘If Boston provided 24-hour public transportation, people wouldn’t drive late at night and be scrambling for parking spaces.’
He also said he felt more available public transportation would decrease instances of drunk driving.
Bergamo estimated he receives between three and five parking tickets per month, and he pays the same in tickets that he would if he rented a space.
David D’Amour, a junior in the School of Management, said he receives only one or two tickets per month and always pays them. He also pays $90 per month for a rented space in a lot near his apartment.
‘I guess I can see leaving with some outstanding tickets and accidentally forgetting about them,’ he said.
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