By Nadia Marshall
Watching the Edgewood College students and faculty struggle in this year’s parking lots paints a painful image: Cars are often moving in and out from lots to nearby street parking as students rush to make it to their morning and evening classes on time. Hands are becoming clammy, and tensions are rising as one student anxiously stares into her rearview mirror to see another car’s lights flash on, indicating a potentially free spot. However, the student’ s relief evaporates when she sees the car has just parked and will not be leaving soon.
With good intentions, the college decided to offer some freshmen parking spots for a fee after push back from staff, students and faculty last year. Now some students say they are beginning to wonder if it was worth it based on current struggles.
“It’s ridiculous! Not only do you have to pay an insane amount to obtain a parking permit, the ticket prices are just as expensive,” said Kyllie Miller, an Edgewood senior who commutes. “Not to mention the fact that you get ticketed for things that aren’t exactly obvious.”
The cost for a full-time student to get a parking permit can average around $320 per semester and $640 for the entire academic year. This is a dramatic increase from the 2016 price of $268 a year to park for the full-time student.
The college released new parking regulations that allowed more incoming students to purchase parking permits with a cap of 40. Although the number of freshmen parking permits has increased, the college reports that there is an overall decrease in the total number of permits issued this year. Out of 630 spaces available, 942 parking permits have been issued this year. The main permit holders are 520 commuters, followed by 245 faculty and staff members, college officials said.
Jessie Harms, Edgewood College’s Parking and Transportation Administrative Assistant, says that the increase of freshman permits, “was a decision made by Edgewood College administration to try to attract more students to our school. There will be a few more permits issued over the course of the school year as individuals decide that the cost of getting parking tickets can be greater than the cost of a permit.”
For some students, parking is not a must-have.
“I like that I am able to park on campus, but I wouldn’t say that it was a defining factor for choosing Edgewood,” said Sarah Zimmerman, an Edgewood freshman. “I would still attend Edgewood even if I didn’t have a parking permit.”
Many students have also expressed complaints about the increase in parking tickets issued, as well as the cost. According to the City of Madison’s Parking Enforcement Office, the average ticket price for violations ranges between $20 to $105. Meanwhile, the cost for an Edgewood student to park in a lot overnight is $50.
Some say the college’s permit process is also difficult to follow.
“In order to find the regulations, you’d have to either dig through the handbook, or be smart enough to hold onto the small piece of paper given to you when you picked up your permit. It’s unfair,” said Miller.
Casey Konkel, president of Edgewood’s Student Senate, said the campus parking issue is due to a change in parking rules. Staff and faculty who previously parked in the Marshall Lot (as required by their parking permits) are now able to park anywhere on campus. This means that the down-the-hill lots seem more congested, but the Marshall Lot is relatively open, Konkel said.
“The only options at this point are to educate students about what the Marshall Lot is
(because they are allowed to park there during the day) and to talk to Jack Leskovar (who is director of Security and Risk Management),” said Konkel.
“Jack is in charge of setting parking policies on campus. The major obstacle that I foresee is that students, staff, and faculty don’t want to park in the Marshall Lot so we need to find solid reasoning as to why parking should be changed back to the previous rules.”
He said the Student Senate has been in contact with various departments to find solutions prior to the 2024-2025 academic school year.
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