By: Jenna Swope
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (UATV) — Campus is full this fall semester with around 26-thousand undergraduate and four thousand graduate students. With that high number comes several problems. The most obvious being parking.
Finding a parking spot on campus within a walking distance to classes has become increasingly more difficult with each year for students who commute to campus.
As of last year, there were a little more than 9 thousand total parking spaces on campus, according to the U of A Parking and Transit.
“I can’t find a parking spot,” student Olivia Peterson said. “I can’t get to class on time unless I leave an hour early and even then it’s not reasonable.”
Aside from struggling to find a parking spot, parking on campus is out of budget for several students. As the demand for parking passes has risen, so has the cost.
For students to have a parking garage permit to the Garland parking garage or the Harmon parking garage the cost is $1,020 dollars a year. Parking per day costs $1.90/per hour in any metered spot.
“Sometimes I choose not to pay for the metered spot and risk the ticket because the cost is too high,” student Julia Nowak said. “I wasn’t able to get a parking pass for the year and can’t afford to pay each day.”
Students are not only struggling with getting a parking pass or paying for parking, even students who have a garage parking pass can’t find spaces daily.
“I drove around in Harmon for twenty minutes before I found a parking spot and I paid for the yearly pass,” student Anna Hamlin said. “I don’t understand how to find a spot when there is none.”
For students who still need a parking spot on campus, there are open spaces for sale in the green lots for $115.