Column by Hallie Beard, Junior from Louisville, Ky.

After May 31, 2016, the price of city stickers in Murray will increase by $100 for a whopping total of $150.

When I first heard this, I’d hoped it was just a rumor, but a phone call to city hall confirmed the monstrosity and crushed my dreams.

I had a twinkling of hope when the woman on the phone said, “It’s a late fee,” speaking about the massive increase. Sneaky lingo doesn’t fool me, though – that “late fee” is the new price for the batch of city stickers to expire May 2017.

Hoping the city would cut us a deal, I asked if the post-May 31 price also applied to students. As I feared, anyone residing “within the city limits of Murray” has to purchase a sticker, as usual – students included.

While I don’t know why the price has increased, I imagine it has to do with the city of Murray needing a little extra cash. That’s understandable, and as a part-time resident, I want to see Murray flourish and be able to do what it needs to do.

However, not all students of Murray State are permanent residents of Murray, and I don’t think it’s right to force us to pay yet another hundred bucks when we already have outrageous dues to pay the university, an entirely separate entity.

Between parking tags, parking tickets, city stickers and housing, we fork over hundreds, even thousands of dollars just to legally exist here.

Housing is expensive no matter what, I know, but having to pay for something like a city sticker each year is excessive, especially for non-Kentucky residents who only live in the state for eight months out of the year.

Maybe this sounds like whining, but hear me out: isn’t it a little twisted that the people visiting the city (students in this case) have to bear the weight of its financial burdens?

Don’t get me wrong – Murray State students love Murray, and I think we know that the success of our university is related to the well-being of the city that holds us. But come the end of the semester, we’re not residents anymore. Most of us return to our homes hundreds of miles away and try to make back a fraction of the money we’ve spent while at school.

Students shouldn’t necessarily be exempt from city stickers, but we should at least get a more sizable discount. It’s a fee that has essentially no purpose for us – unlike university fees, or even the overpriced parking tags, we don’t know where the money goes or why we really, truly need to pay for it.

I think beneath all the money and frustration, though, there’s a bigger problem at hand: why does the city of Murray need to make such a drastic price increase in that shiny little sticker?

I’d like to find out what spurred this sudden influx and how this was a better option than a more gradual change or a plan that excluded university students.

In the meantime, go get your $50 sticker at city hall before June 1 unless you want to sacrifice a pretty penny.

Happy spending!