Madison Thibodeau ‘21, Managing Editor
Have you ever struggled to find a parking space? Did you ever battle another student to obtain a parking space? Most residents and commuters at Immaculata University are dissatisfied with the amount of available parking lots and parking spaces on campus.
According to U.S. News, as of 2019-2020, 71% of students live off campus and 29% of students live in resident housing with most driving vehicles to campus. With such the large population of both commuter students and resident students with vehicles, students should not be struggling day after day to find parking.
This is especially frustrating because the fee for student parking on campus every year is $50 dollars for full-time students and $25 dollars for part-time students. Also, do not forget that if the parking permit is lost or stolen, the student must pay an additional $10 dollars to obtain another parking pass.
Commuter and resident students are only permitted to park in the designated general parking areas of Lot A, B, C, H, and I when there are multiple other parking lots on campus. Parking lots G, F, D, and E are mainly used by faculty and staff which is unavailable for students despite these parking lot remain relatively empty. A measly 5 parking lots cannot contain hundreds of student vehicles without upset and chaos.
The advantage of Immaculata University parking is that parking lots are relatively close to center campus so the walking distance is an average of 5 minutes. Most universities and colleges inconvenience the students by having parking availability at the outskirts of the campus which causes insanely long-distance walks.
However, it is still incredibly frustrating to have this lack of parking for commuter and resident students. This lack of parking lots and spaces is even causing battles between students to obtain parking. There have been cases of students cutting off other students, sneaking in front of other students waiting, and angry beeping and yelling words. A commuter student at Immaculata University states that “It is ridiculous that students need to wait in their cars and play the round robin game to get a parking space on campus”.
The Immaculata University has such a lack of parking that the campus cannot maintain parking availability for campus events and sporting events. An apartment resident at Immaculata University said, “When there are sporting events, parents and students tend to park in lot B which is making it difficult from apartment residents to park.”
It is understandable that Immaculata University wants to preserve green space on campus and keep more land availability for potential development, however, more parking lots and spaces needs to be available to commuter and resident students.
Therefore, additional parking lots with numerous parking spaces should be constructed near general parking. Immaculata University should consider building across from parking lot H for that is the preferred parking lot for commuter, faculty/staff, and resident students.
Parking lot development on the Immaculata University campus is the type of funded projects students would recognize as a contribution to student life on campus. Most of campus funding is spent on projects that students do not request or find necessary.
This method of development will prevent criticism of the lack of parking and the battle to obtain parking spaces. Finally, the fight for parking will be over.
