A new Student Government program will provide students the opportunity to pay off their parking citations using food donations.
The program, Food for Fines, was announced on SG and Vision Party’s Instagram. From Oct. 21-25, anyone with a UFID will be able to dismiss their parking ticket by donating at least five canned food items.
Canned items must be dropped off at the Transportation and Parking Services building between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. The goods will be donated to the Hitchcock Field and Fork Pantry at the end of the week.
Noor Golesorkhi (Vision-Freshman) said she spearheaded the legislation that helped bring back the program. The original Food for Fines program was established in 2018 as a reverse April Fools’ joke by UF President Kent Fuchs and lasted from April 1-6, according to Steve Orlando, a UF spokesman.
“I see this as a problem especially in Gainesville where many residents and students struggle to access nutritious meals,” Golesorkhi said. “As a university, we all should have access to proper nutrition and meals. I want to do everything in my power to make this possible for our university.”
Golesorkhi said she was influenced by a 2019 UF study about food insecurity.
The study found that food insecure college students were at a higher risk of experiencing stress and overall lower grade-point averages than food secure students.
Golesorkhi said she’s been working since April to bring the program back. She said the reason why it took so long is partly because of the finances involved, since TAPS collects revenue from parking tickets every year.
“I would like to have this program each semester for one week,” Golesorkhi said. “I hope to see this as a permanent program.”
Will MacDonald, the senior director of Transportation and Parking Services, said the program will return for the Spring 2025 semester, but an exact start date wasn’t specified.
The eligible parking tickets for the program are those less than six months old and valued up to $35.
Golesorkhi said students using Food for Fines can only pay off four tickets. People cannot use the program to pay for another person’s ticket.
All cans must be sealed, unopened and unexpired. Canned proteins must be at least 12 ounces, and canned soups must be at least 15 ounces. A minimum of five cans can dismiss one parking ticket.
Golesorkhi said canned food cannot pay for late fees related to parking citations.
SG officials will be volunteering at TAPS to make sure people participating in Food for Fines are eligible, she said.
“I think it's a good initiative,” said Isha Khan, a Change Party senator who represented Honors Village from Fall 2023-2024. “However, the realistic aspect of it is a little bit hard for me to understand.”
She said there’s no standardization for the quality of food being donated. Students may choose to buy cheap food with low nutritional value.
Alfredo Ortiz, a spokesman for Watch Party, said he would like to see Food for Fines expanded to include doing volunteer work for different university affiliated organizations.
“I am in support of the program,” he said. “I can tell you that I have been food insecure… I have friends who struggle to find parking and have been cited for parking illegally.”
Benjamin Worley, a 20-year-old UF industrial engineering sophomore, said he thinks the program is a good idea.
“Parking at UF sucks,” he said.
Worley received about 20 parking tickets for the Fall 2023 and Spring 2024 semesters because there were no parking spots available.
This semester, Worley said he has only received two tickets, and he has already paid one of them.
“It's going to be a lot easier to donate food than pay parking tickets,” he said. “College students don't want to have to pay [for a ticket] because you're already working your ass off at a hard university. You don't have time for a job.”
UF will join other educational institutions that have enacted similar programs like the University of Georgia, Texas A&M, West Virginia University and Bates College.
Contact Timothy Wang at twang@alligator.org. Follow him on X @timothyw_g.
Timothy Wang is a junior journalism student and the Fall 2024 Santa Fe College Reporter. He was the University Administration reporter for Summer 2024. His hobbies include gaming or reading manga.
