Parking officials said this week that, despite student complaints, they plan to retain a new pricing structure for Central Campus parking as a way to help fund and maintain parking and transportation around campus.
While Central Campus currently boasts one- and two-bedroom apartments with lower prices than a room on West Campus and free parking, it will now charge its residents $190 for those same parking rights next year.
Although Parking and Transportation Services officials implemented a policy last month requiring that all parking spaces on campus, including those on Central, come under the management of that office, few were informed.
"The change in Central Campus permits requires that everyone who parks on campus contributes to the cost of operating the parking program, and that parking is operated, maintained and managed by [the parking and transportation office]," said Catherine Reeve, director of Parking and Transportation Services.
Reeve explained her office is a cost recovery operation, meaning that revenues collected from parking fees must cover costs related to facilities, operations and maintenance.
"Parking permit rates are based on the cost recovery for the entire parking system, not cost recovery for a specific lot or space," Reeve said. "Now fees for Central Campus parking will contribute to the entire... parking maintenance program."
Although 2003-2004 resident parking information was included in housing packets, most students were unaware of the $190 charge until housing picks for the 2003-2004 school year began last Friday.
Bill Burig, assistant dean of housing assignments, notified potential Central Campus residents of the new fee at Gilbert-Addoms Dormitory, where housing selections were made.
Laura Melvin, a current Central resident also planning to live there next year, was frustrated to be informed about the fee only minutes before signing the housing contracts.
"If I had known about the fee before housing picks, I might have considered other options," Melvin said.
Frustrated by the decision to charge nearly $200 for parking, Melvin wrote a letter to the editor that was published in Monday's Chronicle. Her letter was the first to notify several students of the change, as the parking office announced the policy change in housing information packets but has not yet updated its website regarding permit fees.
Terri Yang, an economics graduate student who first learned about the fee from Melvin's letter, was surprised that the administration never told the current residents of the change.
"If this is true, the $190 will definitely be a big increase in what we have to pay," said Yang, who lives on Central now.
Since the Central Campus parking lots have been well-maintained without such fees, Melvin said, the extra $190 is a ridiculous amount.
Some believe the cost of parking on Central is not so egregious. Heidi Hullinger, a rising senior who will spend a second year on Central Campus, is upset to see her free parking lost, but said she feels the permit fees are justified.
Hullinger cited the benefits of parking so close to her apartment, especially during the late hours, a luxury that West Campus' Blue Zone parking lot does not provide.
"Parking on Central is safer and more convenient than parking in the Blue Zone, and currently the Blue Zone is a lot more expensive. It makes sense that Central Campus should require a parking fee, too," she said.
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