New parking rules that enable first year students to bring cars to campus is making parking hard to come by, students say.
Caidie Leach, first year commuter student, said she’s been starting her day much earlier to ensure she snags a spot.
“It’s been pretty bad. I have to leave for like at least an hour-and-a-half before class to even get a parking spot on at all.”
The new rule, enacted for this academic year, is change from last year when only first year commuters were permitted to have cars on campus. Resident students could have cars only with special permission. More than 400 first year students have cars on campus this year, and students say that has made parking very difficult.
According to the Campus Safety Office, parking is arranged to offer spots for all populations. Yellow-lined spots are for faculty and staff only, white-lined spots are for any student and resident on campus, and the new addition of red-lined spots in the North lot are reserved for first-year resident students. Other spots may at times be labeled for vehicles like university shuttles or vans.
Kurtis Kowalski, mass communication and design major and Cougar Radio Station Manager, said he suspects the divisions may not effectively accommodate everyone.
“If you’re having a mid-morning class or an early morning class, get here early in the morning and, especially if you have classes at Mercy, because you’re sometimes competing with faculty or staff that work here because there’s not a whole lot of staff specific parking like in that lot right by Mercy–it’s like half and half.”
He added that the crunch is eased as the day goes on.
“I’ve noticed if like you have a class that’s like after 2:00 p.m., and that’s your first class of the day, you might get lucky, maybe get a decent spot, but for the most part like if you have a class in the morning, trying to find parking spots any time after 8:00 a.m. is rough,” Kowalski said.
Faculty and staff are also impacted by the parking situation. If all the yellow-lined spots are taken from the lot closest to Mercy Hall, they also need circle the lots until a spot becomes available. The Henry Science Lot offers no designated parking spots for faculty and staff, and so they may not get a spot close to that building if all spaces are full.
Resident students often take up most of the spaces in the North Lot, behind resident halls and by the Anderson Sports complex. The Henry Science Lot is often filled up by the overflow from a nearby health sciences facility as well as some residents and other commuter and faculty vehicles.
Parking has been a very popular issue for many years, and this year it is even more prominent among students even with back-up paring offered by shuttle service to and from Passan Hall. Resolution of the issue may remain a work in progress.
“I think maybe the decision to let first years have a car on campus, well it is like convenient for them, and I’m sure it is helpful for some of them. It creates quite the traffic issue,” Kowalski said.