Castleton State College collected more than $40,000 in 2007 from students parking where they shouldn’t have.When students learned that the school had made a reported $41,029 from parking tickets last year, dumbfounded expressions began to appear on their once happy faces.

Many students interviewed said they are fed up with the high number of parking tickets being handed out.

“Screw that! I’m never paying for another ticket again,” said Jason Jakimer, a student at the college who said he couldn’t believe the school collected that much money.

Brett Quilia is a student who has had quite a history of parking tickets on campus and has helped fuel the $41,029 windfall for the school.

When asked what he thought about the parking on campus, he responded by saying, “Haha, I wouldn’t know really. I’m technically not allowed to park on campus anymore. I only received three tickets and paid for every single one of them. They took away my parking privileges, so now I can be towed at any time.”

A recent survey on campus revealed that there plenty of parking available for students in the South Lot of campus, better known as “Africa.” But students say that they do not want to walk all the way from that lot when they can park 100 yards away from their class.

So instead, many students choose to risk getting a ticket — or now the boot, which is being used by the Public Safety Department.

“The boot costs 40 to remove, and was started so we didn’t have to inconvenience students in having their cars towed off campus,” said Bob Godlewski, director of Public Safety.

Castleton administrators downplay the parking crisis that students talk about so often.

“We allow freshmen to have cars on campus. Many colleges do not allow students to bring cars there freshmen year, and they also charge hundreds of dollars to have a parking pass,” said Dean of Administration Bill Allen. “Castleton does not charge for parking, but they do ticket cars that are parked where they are not allowed.”

But the amount being raised still stuns some students.

When Jimmy Van Der Kar heard about the amount of money made from parking tickets last year, he wondered out loud where all goes.

“I received the Public Safety scholarship, $40,000 and a flashlight,” he said jokingly.

The money is actually put back into the college’s general operating budget.