For many students, parking tickets — like death and taxes — are a sure thing downtown and on campus.

But others wonder where the money they pay in parking ticket fees goes.

"I don't know actually (where the money goes)," Ben Hagy said (junior-American studies.)

This lack of knowledge has perpetuated myths.

Hagy said he is not certain, but he heard that officers receive a bonus if they fill their quota of issuing parking tickets.

Despite the myth, officers do not have any bonuses or quotas to fill for handing out tickets, said Ellen J. Aschenbrenner, a parking supervisor for Penn State Police Services.

"Officers are assigned a district each day and respond to complaints made to the parking office and police," Aschenbrenner said.

Quota or not, Hagy also worries about where the collected money goes.

"I hope that the money goes back to the city maybe and not in someone's pocket book," Hagy said. "As long as it benefits the city."

Parking officials want to put students' concern to rest.

"The money is put into a general fund used for (everything from) payroll to fixing potholes," Karen Martin, borough parking manager, said.

Carl Di Pietro (senior-electrical engineering) would be happy to know that the money Penn State collects for on-campus parking tickets goes to the community rather than to someone's paycheck.

"I would hope that it would go to the school in some way and not into Graham Spanier's pockets," Di Pietro said.

Unlike the borough, Penn State applies revenue from parking tickets in a different manner.

"Student ticket revenue does not come back to the parking office," said Kendra Lucas, kiosk coordinator for the parking office. "Fees from staff and visitor parking tickets do come back to help run operations at the office."

Traditionally, money collected from students' parking tickets go to student scholarships, Lucas said.

Money that does go to the parking office helps run the office itself and the parking kiosks around campus, Lucas said. Money from parking permits pay for the building and maintenance of the parking facilities.

Late fees on student parking are added to their semester bills, and staff members' fees are deducted from their pay.

While resident and students are able to buy parking permits or spaces downtown, out-of-town visitors who do not have permits often have trouble finding overnight parking, Martin said.

One solution is for out-of-town visitors to ask for permission to park downtown, Martin said. They can call police to ask for permission so that they can park.

Repeat violators are subject to the borough's mobilization policy intended to help cut down on the number of deadbeat parking violators.

"We can put a boot on a car," Martin said. "Most people knowing that pay their parking tickets."

The numbers, however, indicate either enforcement or violations are increasing.

"Two hundred thirty-three vehicles were booted last year, which is a lot," Martin said, adding that only 135 boots were put on cars the year before.

Borough officers are booting an average of 20 to 25 automobiles a month for unpaid tickets, she said.

Despite the increased booting downtown, Penn State surpassed State College in tickets issues by a couple of thousand tickets last year with the borough issuing 82,000 tickets compared to the 90,000 given by the university.

Unlike the officers serving the borough, Penn State officers only enforce the parking policies of the Parking Office and do not use boots to help enforce parking, Aschenbrenner said.

"After so many tickets, paid and unpaid, a vehicle can be placed on a revocation list and can be towed," she said.

The revocation list includes all of the vehicles that have had their parking privileges revoked, Aschenbrenner said. A parking officer's handheld computer will display vehicles with revoked parking privileges, the officer confirms it with the office and the vehicle is towed, she said.

"They (the Parking Office) make the policies," Aschenbrenner said. "We just enforce them."