As the New Year begins, there are a few changes as Skyline College starts the Spring 2017 semester consisting of parking permits, the inauguration and reminders for financial aid.

In relation to parking permits, students who have not yet bought their parking passes for the term will have a two-week grace period only for student parking lots. After the grace period ends, tickets around $45 will be written to non-permit holders. Parking passes for students are priced at $2 per day, for the Spring and Fall semester the cost will be $51 each, in the Summer the cost will be $26. There are parking passes available for both Fall and Spring $92 where all passes are available at the Skyline Public Safety Department.

The rules for staff and students have not changed and will be reinforced. As the Skyline College website states, “All persons who park motor vehicles on campus. Daily permits may be purchased from ticket dispensers. Permits are not required on weekends. Replacement permits are available at full price. Permits are nonrefundable.” For more information, it can be obtained at the SMCCD Public Safety Department website.

After the historical election back in November 2016, there has been major protest over the President-Elect. On January 20, the Inauguration of Donald Trump is to be protested by 58 Congress members and counting according to USA Today by Steph Solis and Eliza Collins. The 15 House of Representatives of California as reported by CNN Politics’ Eugene Scott and Daniella Diaz are also participating and have publically announced through their Twitter pages.

Locals of northern California and all over the United States have organized protests to exercise their Second Amendment rights over the inauguration. Some of the protests are based in San Francisco such as “Bay Area Resist Trump,” and “San Francisco Inauguration Day Trump Protest,” also in Oakland, “Resist Trump”. These are of the few of many protests happening in California altogether on January 20.

If there is a last minute change of plans due to scheduling, students do have the choice of being able to drop classes on January 30 which will give students a partial refund. On February 5, students will be able to drop classes without it appearing on their records but no refund will be issued.

Lastly, FAFSA has been opened since October 1, 2016 due to changes made to make it convenient for students to fill out their tax information for the next school year. The 2017-2018 FAFSA will be able to retrieve past information in order to save time according to Regina Morrison, Skyline financial aid director in an interview through email. The Free Application for Student Aid is open now and will close June 30, 2017.