How 'green' are our local colleges?

Oakton Community College in Des Plaines emphasizes, even stresses, the importance of being "green" and its own efforts in doing so.

I applaud their efforts for this "green" strategy. However, I believe Oakton administrators, and all community colleges for that matter, need to reconsider the out-of-district fees for students living in the immediate proximity of the college, say less than two to three miles.

I live just north of Maryville, which is less than a mile and a half from Oakton's campus - a five-minute bike ride.

However, my in-district college is Harper, which is 10 miles to the west, a 20-minute ride by car in the best of Euclid Road traffic. (Public transportation is negligible from this location.)

A cost-benefit analysis shows the student saves $1,500 by going to Harper without taking into consideration the amount of time he sits in traffic (wait until the snow comes) and the contribution the student is making to traffic congestion.

But what is the cost of the environmental damages caused by the pollution of a vehicle carrying one student 10 miles?

Then multiply that by the number of students going to Harper who live east of Wolf Road and south of Camp McDonald Road, or even south of Palatine Road.

How much pollution will it take for local colleges to change their out-of-district fees or policies?

I'll pop for the cost of a new bike rack!

Sean Herling

Mount Prospect