At the beginning of the year, parking services redesignated some of the parking lots due to high enrollment.
The southern half of lot 144, located on eighth street has changed from a standard commuter lot into parking for Southeast hall residents. In addition, lot 159 has changed from an economy commuter lot into a resident parking lot, again for Southeast hall residents. Finally, lot 117 has been converted into parking for Northwest residents.
When asked specifically why these changes were made Kendell Rorbach, Director of Card and Parking Services, said that, “The change was made due to an expected high Freshman class and a high retention rate of returning students meaning the on-campus residents will be one of the highest ever.”
Despite the record numbers, Rorbach says that this is not the first time this has happened or has even been considered.
This was not the only plan being considered. The President’s Senior Team chose this out of multiple different options.
This is also not a permanent solution. “Other long term options will be considered in the campus master plan.” Said Rorbach.
Rorhbach says that the reaction has been “mixed”. “ The on campus students have more room but the off campus students will have to park farther north.”
When actually talking to first time commuters, the reactions seem to lean more negative. Jordan Hogan, a junior majoring in architecture says, “t’s terrible. It just sucks trying to find places, like if we have to park all the way in Hansen and walk all the way to the AME it takes a lot of time to figure out where we are going for parking.”
Brooke Weierke, also a junior majoring in architecture says, “it’s inconvenient. You never know if you are going to get a spot in a certain lot that’s going to be closest to your class so you kind of have to allow for extra time in order to move if you need to or adjust.”
Bennent Berge, a junior majoring in construction management says, “The first week of class I could not find parking at all. Now, I’m guessing not as many kids are going to class, I’ve been able to find parking in this lot [Daktronics lot] but before I had been walking from the ag lot.”
However, Rorhbach maintains that there isn’t an overcrowding issue. He says that the main issue is that students want to park closest to the building they are going too which is typically towards the southern side of campus, despite the fact that there are plenty of open spaces on the north side. He also pointed out that there isn’t a whole lot of available room on the southern side, so if more spaces were created to accommodate a growing student population, they would most likely be built on the northern side.
He was also asked about the number and frequency of complaints they have received this year and said, “the number of complaints really has not changed this year compared to last year or any other year. We do not really have a way to keep track of that data. It comes in too many formats.”