The good, the bad and the free in campus parking

As students begin to settle in to their schedules, drop some of those 8 a.m. classes that sounded like a great idea when registration occurred eight months ago, and begin to “figure it all out”, the parking woes begin to mellow as well…just in time for snow. As a final piece of advice from the parking services team, I encourage you to always park between the lines, even when you can’t see them.
 
 UAA's student-centered parking is unusual
Parking is a struggle on any campus—so much so that there is a model used to manage parking on many campuses called Transportation Demand Management that encourages pricing parking at a rate that only the top 20 percent can afford it. This reduces the demand for parking spaces because students, and many staff and faculty, simply can’t afford to drive so they are forced to find alternative ways to campus. Some schools limit who may bring a car to campus—either restricting freshmen from having cars on campus, or only allowing students to park in off-campus commuter park & ride lots and take a bus to campus.

Hope this parking photo brings a smile. (liquidnight CC Flckr)

Still yet, there are some schools that don’t charge at all for parking, or that figure in the cost of transportation to the total charges for the year. While you may save the cost of parking your car, often you will spend upwards of $40,000 per year in tuition at some of these schools, and you are told which lot you may park in, usually on the outskirts of campus. I guarantee the cost of managing those parking lots is paid by students in the long run.

The parking management system we have at
UAA is somewhat of a hybrid model and we have a very student-centered parking policy. We sell permits at roughly a 2.3:1 ratio, meaning 2.3 permits are sold for every parking space on campus. We can do this because not all permitted vehicles are on campus at any given time. The goal is to keep the lots full—if we build more parking spaces than we need, we are wasting valuable land that could be better used for classrooms, labs,and academic research. It’s a delicate balancing act.

Some schools sell permits up to a 24:1 ratio—that’s more than 10 times as many cars fighting over one space on campus. At UAA, your permit allows you to park in nearly any lot at any time (with a few exceptions). Other than the 5 percent of spaces reserved for UAA fleet vehicles, UAA doesn’t reserve parking for individual staff or faculty,so students have the same chance to park as employees do, which is not the norm in the world of higher education; it’s practically unheard of.

Special arrangements for special events
Special arrangements possible for The Parking Enforcement team works with student groups and departments to help manage parking when an event is planned during enforcement hours. Last year, parking services fielded requests for over 600 events on campus ranging from a single guest speaker, to a Hollywood movie production crew, to career fairs, to events like the Heart Run that drew nearly 6,000 guests.

Consider Zimride and Hertz on Demand
Watch for some of the fun opportunities to try a new transportation method as the semester progresses. Sign up now for memberships with Hertz on Demand, or Zimride so when the time comes that you need to use the program, you are ready.

Good with a camera? You could WIN a parking permit
Is photography your thing? There is a great opportunity to win a parking permit just by snapping photos of campus landmarks. Watch for contest details in the coming weeks to submit a photo for consideration. Also watch for promotions throughout the year like the Can-Struction food drive, the Ton in Ten food drive (which allows you to pay for a parking citation with peanut butter and jelly), the carbon footprint reduction commuter challenge, Bike to Work Day, and many more.

Have a great semester!