There is a lot of uproar about student ticket sales. Seniors had hours to buy tickets, juniors less than 2 minutes. A few adjustments have been made since last year that have helped somewhat, but we are a long way from a fair system everyone can be satisfied with.

Don't let commonwealth campus students participate. This isn't meant to be bitter towards those students or to say University Park is better than other campuses. The reason is simple; they are not part of the University Park community. Let them start their own football team, build their own stadium or follow their own teams. Better yet, let them transfer to University Park, if they can get in.

If they want to buy tickets for an individual game or have a friend buy for them at UP, I'm all for it. But while we are all Penn State, University Park students should get priority. There is something wrong with the fact that some students get to drive in from Altoona or Hazelton and get in to Beaver Stadium while some dedicated University Park seniors have to sit in a State College bar and watch the game on TV.

Second, expand or move the student section. As of now, many alumni and general admission tickets have an obstructed view of the field because the students stand. Let the people who pay the big money enjoy the game by shifting the student section so it is a "U" around the endzone. That should add 500-1000 seats and alumni wouldn't have to sit next to drunk, standing students.

Priority should be given to seniors and maybe juniors. Freshmen and sophomores just think of this as an incentive to become an upperclassman and graduate. I'm not saying kick the young'ns out, but sell them half-season tickets, or individual game tickets. They still get a Penn State football experience, and it frees up more tickets. Also, if seniors and juniors don't buy them fast enough in this scenario, then allow underclassmen the opportunity to take the tickets. Dividing up the tickets proportional to class size was a good start, but it gives priority to the largest class, not the most loyal or the ones with the most credits or most experienced.

Dedicate some number of season tickets to individual-game sales or half-season. The students who want to just go to one or two games can get those tickets at a fair price without having to buy five or six extra tickets.

Sure, it would be hard to divide the games up because any Big Ten Game will sell out before Coastal Carolina, but it's still Penn State football and it's a start.

Last but not least, make sure the athletic department sells to students who want tickets.

Any proportion made, whether by class or by campus or anything, should be based on the number of students who pre-register for sales. There are plenty of students who would rather not buy tickets, so don't count them in with their classmates that would do anything for the tickets.

Thomas DiVito

junior-broadcast journalism