Student I.D. inflation is unreasonable

On the front page story this week, The Setonian reported that the University has severely inflated the price of both replacement student I.D.'s and tempo­rary I.D.'s. Both have seen a price increase of $15 since the beginning of the semester, in an effort to discourage students from losing their cards, as well as an attempt to remain consistent with other Uni­versities' fees.

The Setonian, however, disagrees strongly with this initiative. Why are students left paying more? While we understand that students must be dis­couraged from losing their I.D., they were paying enough to begin with. Nearly doubling the cost is simply not acceptable, especially when it comes for students. A replacement Seton Hall I.D. now costs more than a Driver's License in the state of New Jersey. Granted, we use it everywhere, but studentspay steep tuition fees as well.

In addition to replacement I.D. costs, tempo­rary I.D. costs are now at $20. The previous cost was $5. The temporary I.D. is meant to be exactly what its name implies - temporary. How is it jus­tifiable to instill such a drastic cost for a temporary fix? If it is late at night, and a student needs it to get into their dorm, they are supposed to now pay $20 for an emergency fix? It simply doesn't make sense, and does not seem fair, especially for a tem­porary, emergency situation.

The cost of a Seton Hall education is not cheap, and that is something that is acceptable. However, for students to be taken advantage of by being forced to dig deeper into their pockets is simply unreasonable. There are better ways to address situations than by taking more money.