Story highlights After receiving two parking fines, a University of North Carolina-Charlotte student paid his fine in 11,000 pennies

It took three hours and 40 minutes for parking services workers to count the pennies

(CNN) When Stephen Coyle received two parking tickets on the University of North Carolina-Charlotte's campus, he jokingly told parking officials that he would pay them back in pennies.

It proved to be no joke. On July 2, Coyle filled three buckets with 60 pounds of pennies and took them to the school's Parking Services office to pay a total of $110 in parking fines.

The penny payoff was born when Coyle, 26, and a group of friends did research on parking fine allocations and came across the school's parking services website

"According to North Carolina law, the University is only allowed to retain 20% of the money collected from parking citations. The remaining 80% must be remitted to the state to support local public schools (elementary, middle and high schools)," according to the website.

The mathematics and actuarial science major serves in leadership roles for two campus organizations and was disappointed in this information.

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