Finding available parking — whether on the street or in a parking structure — is becoming rare for some Marquette students.
Students get assigned days to get a parking pass through the parking website, where each grade all have designated days to obtain a parking pass. For fall semester, parking passes are sold out for all students. For anyone parking 24 hours, it’s $345 per semester, and for full-time commuters, it’s $226 per semester.
“We are always managing student waitlists for parking. Parking is a finite resource on this and many other campuses and we try to support those students that are more dependent on a car. Commuters get priority in obtaining permits and then permits are released by student seniority,” Marquette Parking Services wrote in an email.
Parking opens up a few weeks to almost a month before the first day of classes depending on the semester, and students can either buy parking for a full year, the fall and spring, or just for one semester. Students have to pay in full and can either choose from the 749 N. 16th St. or 1240 W. Wells parking structures.
Marquette Parking Services said those that get priority are students that rely on car transportation to and from campus, such as commuters, upperclassmen off campus and those with internships, clinicals and experiential learning opportunities.
Umar Qhavi, a first-year commuter in the College of Arts & Sciences, has been on the waitlist to get a parking pass, where around over 400 students are also waiting, with no additional students allowed to be added to the waitlist at this time, an email from Marquette Parking Services said.
“A couple of freshmen friends I have who need parking passes were not able to get them. Most of those people have been on the waitlist for about a month … I think it is difficult for new freshmen/commuters as it is never communicated in any way on how to get them. I have asked other freshmen as well, and they said the same thing,” Qhavi said in an email.
For Marquette commuters, parking on campus can have extra costs and safety precautions.
“Commuter students usually have to carpool with other people who may not have a similar schedule, or they have to find a spot to park on the street, which can add up to more than a parking pass, assuming it is $2-3 for two hours of parking, with the additional risk of getting hit by a car, especially in the winter when the roads are slippery,” Qhavi said in an email.
Qhavi said when you are on the waitlist, it is practically impossible to get a pass.
“Commuters get access to parking passes seven days before other students have the option to, which I feel like they should. I understand that living on campus is hard, but living off campus is even harder. You have to account for traffic and leave from your home accordingly. It is a hassle and I think commuters should get a little longer to pay for the parking,” Janita Waqar, a sophomore in the College of Business Administration, added.
Waqar said worrying about getting a parking ticket can be very stressful. He said there is continuous campus construction, but none to help students find parking.
“A lot of my friends just buy street parking, but I know that if the parking here was cheaper and more parking slots were available, my friends wouldn’t have a problem purchasing a parking pass,” Waqar said.
This story was written by Trinity Zapotocky. She can be reached at [email protected].
