High schools, which can find themselves tight on cash by the end of the academic year, have embraced a new fundraiser that’s proving popular with just about everyone. For a donation to the school, students can pick a specific parking spot and paint it any way they’d like.

Every school structures it differently, but many have a fee for an annual permit. If students pay another flat rate above that fee–$50 is popular–they can spend a day painting their parking space. Some students make their spaces into games, some memorialize people who’ve died, and some just go with color–lots and lots of color. They say the fundraisers make complete sense–after all, they occupy their spaces five days a week for a good bit of the year, so they want to feel happiness pulling in.

The efforts also generate positive news stories. Check out pieces from Witchita Falls, Texas;  Cache, Okla.;  San Juan Capistrano, Calif.; Cloverdale, Ind.; and Fort Walton Beach, Fla.