Parking problem never changes

By NIKKI NEAL

Parking on campus can be a headache and a pain.

Some people pay $68 a semester for a parking pass and struggle just to find a spot. In the past I use to buy parking passes thinking it would be much easier and convenient to get to class on time.

I found out the hard way, however, that it is not easy to come to school and just park—you have to search and wait for a stall a majority of the time.

It’s not unusual to have to get to school half an hour to and hour early in order to find a stall if you do not have an eight or nine o’clock class.

If your class starts at 10 or 11, good luck. Some people are willing to sit out in their cars with their engines running waiting for people to leave.

I, however, do not even bother anymore.

I found something that is more convenient, which is parking across the street and walking to campus. It seems a lot closer than some of the parking lots on campus.

I have done this for the past year. The good thing is not only that it is convenient, but it is cheaper.

It doesn’t make any sense to pay for a parking pass that you can’t always use. I also used to do it the hard way— searching all the parking lots looking for stalls, feeling confident I’d succeed, but that wasn’t always the case.

I would angrily park across the street from the school wasting a half-hour sometimes being late or almost late for class.

If you pay for a parking pass you should not have to worry about parking when you get to school, or worry about how early you’d have to leave for school.

It seems like there is more staff and faculty parking than there needs to be. More parking should be made available to the students.

Each year there are more and more students and not enough parking. In the year 2002-2003 the fall semester had 7,678 students and the spring had 7,469.

In the year 2001-2002 there were 6,496 students and in the spring there were 6,627.

For 2000-2001 there were 6,256 in the fall semester and 6,189 in the spring.

Student enrollment here is increasing each year.

The school should recognize the parking problem and think about what can be done to improve the situation.

It’s obvious more consideration needs to be given to parking.