Sault College student upset about campus parking, snow clearing

SooToday.com has received the following from a loyal reader who struggled with conditions at Sault College today:

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Dear SooToday.com:

$10,000 - the approximate cost of a year attending Sault College including tuition and supplies for my fiancé and I.

$160 - The cost of parking from September to August.

The question here is not why we spend so much to attend school, the answer to that is obvious.

My question is why we pay hundreds of dollar to park?

If the spring is not bad enough in Sault College parking lots with the giant pot holes that bottom out our cars and cause us to pay to have repairs done, but then winter strikes and we are up past our ankles in snow; this does not just happen once though.

Every single morning that it snows we are stuck walking in this snow.

Today in particular, I spent 30 minutes trying to get my car out of the parking lot; eventually, I had to call family members including my father who recently suffered a massive heart attack to help push our car out of the driveway.

Once we were out of the parking lot, I called Sault College to lodge a complaint about the parking lot conditions as I feel this was the final straw to an ongoing issue.

First, I was told by the secretary that "a lot" of complaints had been called in, she then transferred me to the person responsible for snow removal.

I cannot say who it was I was speaking with but what I can tell you is that the manner in which they addressed the issue was unsatisfying.

I was asked what I would like them to do about the situation, when they are unable to get their equipment in the parking lot, if a truck with a plow is unable to get in the parking lot how do they expect students to park and get out of the parking lot.

I was also told that it started snowing at 4 a.m. and did not stop until 6 a.m.;  even if this is true classes do not start until 7:30 or 8 a.m., leaving over an hour to get at least some of the parking lot cleared.

I was also told people had been out to help others push their vehicles out of the lot and that someone was now working with a small snow blower to get the lot cleared; I was out there for 30 minutes I heard no equipment or any sign of people to help get students out.

People who pay hundreds of dollars to park and thousands of dollars to get an education should not have to work to get out of a driveway.

A phone call to help be pushed out by one person should have the college asking some questions on their snow removal process and the manner in which they deal with complaints should not be to question the validity of our statements or how the school should deal with an issue we pay for them to deal with themselves.

Sincerely,

- Another broke student

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