The cost of parking in visitor lots and campus meter parking is on the rise this semester as Commuter Services combats parking pass users from crowding the pay lots.
Commuter Services director Alma Allred said the motive behind the price hike is to give visitors a chance to find parking in the often-filled visitor lots. Some students and faculty with parking passes have been willing to pay a few extra dollars every day in order to get a parking spot closer than the lots that many of them have permits for.
“30 percent of the [visitor] lots are filled by people with permits,” Allred said .
Students can park on campus for less than a dollar per day with both U and E parking passes, but many have opted to park in visitor parking for a few extra dollars in order to get a spot closer to class. The old system had a $2 fee for the first hour and an additional $1 per hour after that. The new system bumps this up to a $1 per half hour with a daily maximum of $20.
By bumping the cost up from $1 every hour to $1 every half hour, Allred hopes the hike could pressure students on a tight budget not to use these parking options or leave sooner rather than later, freeing up space for others in need of parking.
“There aren’t any other options,” Allred said. “There are just too many people [with parking passes] in those lots.”
Kay Jenson, a senior in psychology, said she understands why the school raised these rates but believes it to be “just a Band-Aid” to the real problem of inconvenient student parking on campus.
“The university has horrific parking for students,” Jenson said. “There is not enough space. I think it will only frustrate students. I still do not understand the huge increase.”
Like many other students, Jenson takes public transportation to campus most days. However, she will have to drive to campus on Fridays this semester, and will most likely continue using visitor parking even though the cost was increased.
Jenson said while she does not like the increase, she can understand Commuter Services’ motivation.
“Students shouldn’t be using the visitor parking since they can pay for a parking pass. It could be blamed on oneself for not leaving enough time to find parking [in student lots],” Kay said.