Driving from lot to lot, circling like vultures and even stalking other students in a desperate attempt to find parking should sound familiar if you commute to campus and (take this with a grain of salt) take advantage of the ample on campus parking. The last thing we as students need to worry about is parking in order to make it to class. Unfortunately, the situation has become dire and students and faculty members alike are speaking out about their parking adventures. The following questions were asked in order to get a better understanding of the parking woes on campus:
Do you commute to campus?
Have you ever had a problem finding a parking spot?
How long have you searched for a parking spot?
Have you ever been late to or missed classed because you couldn’t find a parking spot?
[blockquote author=”Cassidy McCullen – Mass Communications Senior” pull=”none”]
Yes, I commute to campus. I make it a point to arrive on campus 20 minutes before class, because I like to be early to get settled in and prepared for lecture. But on numerous occasions this semester, I have been late because of the lack of parking spots. I think that this is ridiculous for many reasons, but the most aggravating thing is that I paid to have an available parking spot on campus, therefore I should not have to spend 30+ minutes circling the school. They CLEARLY gave out more parking permits than they have parking spots. That’s like selling 200 tickets on a plane that only has 100 seats.
“The worst situation I have had (thus far) would be when I arrived at school with almost 25 minutes before my 11:00 class, and at 11:20 I still hadn’t found a spot. I’m talking ANY Green Lots (which my permit is for), general parking, parking garage…it was all taken. I ended up missing class completely for something I had no control over, and it’s obviously not an excused absence.
Basically, if you are going to continue increasing the number of accepted students, be sure that you have the right campus to do so.
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[blockquote author=”Candice Williams – Marketing Junior” pull=”none”]
It’s absolutely horrible. The school needs to stop accepting so many people and tearing down so many parking spaces that students need. Stop selling so many parking passes if you know there is not enough for all the people. And the residents parking…they need to cut some of them to because obviously they are already here. I was actually late to class today.
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[blockquote author=”Alexis Reese – Mass Communications Junior” pull=”none”]
I do drive to school and its extremely unpredictable. Every single day you never know if you’re gonna get a parking spot or not. Tuesdays and Thursdays are the busiest days at school so just getting here is ridiculous. Even the other days its a problem like to day I had to park by Bowers [Stadium] and I barely found a spot. There is also a rumor going around that the president thinks the parking situation isn’t a problem and that she is actually tearing up a parking lot to build a new building and she wants to take away parking spots.
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[blockquote author=”Michael Condit – Senior” pull=”none”]
It’s a little bit hard to find parking in the mornings. Normally it’s pretty packed. It can take up to 15 minutes of time or more to find a spot and its pretty frustrating and I’m usually about 5 to 6 minutes late to class. I see people constantly circling the parking lots trying to find a spot so I think they should definitely do something about it.
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[blockquote author=”Sandie Graves – Criminal Justice Sophomore” pull=”none”]
I feel that it is very irritating because I’m always late to class because there is no parking. The school needs to come out here and actually see what’s going on.
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[blockquote author=”Corian Allen – Marketing Freshman” pull=”none”]
I live on campus but I drive to football practice in the morning and I have to find somewhere to park as far as going back to my resident building. I can only park in the blue lots and there is usually nowhere to park. I am late to class all the time and either you park illegally or you don’t make it to class on time.
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[blockquote author=”Irvin Anthony Cooks – Political Science Junior” pull=”none”]
The parking places that are available on campus I can’t really park at because I don’t have the proper tags and most of the time they don’t really specify where you can and can’t park. There are no signs or tag requirements and I have gotten tickets for parking there. I have to drive around at least 3 times just to find a spot.
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[blockquote author=”Theresa Pitts – Animal Science/Pre Vet Senior” pull=”none”]
If you get here past 8 its hard to find any parking near campus and it’s pretty much the same as me walking from my apartment. I circle about 30 minutes looking for a spot and I’ve been late to class.
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[blockquote author=”Janna Miller – Animal Science Senior” pull=”none”]
I live 15 minutes away from school so I get here at 7-7:15 to school just to make sure I get a parking spot. I don’t have early classes but I come early just to get a spot because if I don’t then I’m circling 30 minutes to an hour and I’ve done it before. It’s not fun.
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[blockquote author=”Kyssemee Bradley – History/Mathematics Junior” pull=”none”]
I do commute to school. There’s like 200 parking spaces and 20,000 students. I circled the parking lots the other day for like an hour. I’ve been late and have missed class because I’ve couldn’t find a spot.
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[blockquote author=”Erica Camacho – Biochemistry Senior” pull=”none”]
Its terrible. Sometimes its takes like 30 minutes and I’ve had to miss class because I couldn’t find parking. You have have to circle the parking lot over and over and people get so aggravated. You have two people waiting for the same parking spot and nobody is willing to budge and I’m always running 5 to 10 minutes late. You don’t get that camaraderie that you’re supposed to have coming to school because everyone is already aggravated.
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[blockquote author=”Tre Smalls – Accounting Sophomore” pull=”none”]
Everyday of the week I have problems with parking. I’m always late to class. One time I had to circle around for 40 minutes to get a spot.
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[blockquote author=”Jennifer Murphy – Pre Nursing Sophomore” pull=”none”]
I don’t commute to school because I live on campus but I have had issues with parking. Whenever I use my car it’s usually really hard to find an empty parking space and I’m constantly driving around looking for a spot. I work on campus and have been late and I have to call them and tell them that I’m looking for parking
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[blockquote author=”Conner Graham – Mass Communications” pull=”none”]
There’s just not a lot of spaces on campus especially in the afternoon. I’ve spent 20 to 30 minutes looking for a spot and I have friends that have spent over an hour and even missed class.
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[blockquote author=”Marcus Rodriguez – Mass Communications Senior” pull=”none”]
I commute from College Station so parking on campus is crucial. I’ve literally had a problem locating a parking spot every single day and I’m always running late to class and have even been counted absent because I was late to class.
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[blockquote author=”Alicia Cantchola – Communication Studies Sophomore” pull=”none”]
I have to beg my roommates to drop me off at school every morning because trying to find a parking spot is a nightmare. I’ve spent 30 minutes driving around the lots and just gave up and ended up driving back home and walking to school. I’ve missed classes and been so late to class that it wasn’t even worth the time.
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[blockquote author=”Julio Medina-Lopez – Spanish Professor Sam Houston State University” pull=”none”]
I don’t live far from campus but being a professor I have a lot of materials to carry with me. Not being able to find parking is a major problem and even as faculty we don’t have preferred parking.
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[blockquote author=”Cheri Hudgeons – Mathematics Professor Sam Houston State University” pull=”none”]
I don’t normally have a problem with parking…I can always find a place.
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Updated Sept. 26th 10:13am – Cheri Hudgeons was incorrectly identified as a History Professor in the original post.