Editorial: Parking debacle

In a move sure to infuriate students, Parking and Transportation Services has decided to charge Central Campus residents a $190 fee for parking, which came as a shock to Central residents who have previously not been charged for parking. This large increase in one year is unjustified and a public relations debacle.

The biggest problem with this parking fee increase is that the administration did not tell students about it until they had already selected their housing and were about to sign their housing contracts. This means that students had no way to know before selecting whether they would live on Central or West Campus that parking would cost $190, and thus could not make a fully informed decision about their living options. Worse, students who perhaps would have chosen to live off campus had they known about this fee did not have that option. Parking and Transportation Services should announce its fee structure, especially huge increases like this one, well ahead of time to give students complete information while making their housing choices.

The reason that people choose to live on Central is largely financial - it is significantly cheaper than West. This fee increase makes Central a less attractive option. Central apartments are also priced to compete with off-campus apartments, such as Erwin Square or The Belmont Apartments, where parking is free. By charging a parking fee, Central apartments will become even less attractive compared to more spacious and luxurious off-campus apartments.

Moreover, Central Campus apartments have a fee for parking privileges built into the rent, according to the Parking and Transportation Service website. That is, the rent for Central apartments includes parking, in addition to utilities, upkeep and various other amenities. Thus, Central residents pay a portion of their rent for the privilege to park, which means that with the additional $190 fee, Parking and Transportation Services is charging Central residents twice for parking. If rent on apartments were reduced to account for the fact that parking is no longer included therein, that would be an equitable situation for students, but this is not what is happening. The rent has not decreased, and the University is trying to squeeze even more money out of its students.

Parking and Transportation Services should immediately change this policy and not charge any fee to residents on Central next year. Because of its failure to properly communicate with students in a timely manner and the fact that parking is already included in the rent for the apartments, this fee should not go into affect next year.

If, in the future, Parking and Transportation Services wants to charge a parking fee, it should announce such fees well ahead of time - i.e., it should announce its fees for the 2004-2005 year at the beginning of fall semester 2003 - giving students the necessary information to make an informed choice about housing and whether they should live on or off campus. Anything else is grossly unfair to students.

Regardless of how much Parking and Transportation Services needs additional funding, it cannot simply change long-standing policies at the last minute without informing any of the affected students. It is this type of behavior from the administration - behavior designed to take as much money as possible from students without consulting or even informing them ahead of time - that alienates students.