Perspective

Every day, commuter and residential students play a game of musical chairs to find parking.

According to Ronald Quagliani, associate vice president of public safety, commuters have access to approximately 1,600 parking spaces. For this year, approximately 2,362 commuter parking permits and 1,969 CT Transit ChargerGo bus passes have been issued.

Frustration is mounting among commuter students who say the university’s scattered lots do not meet their needs.

Sophomore healthcare administration student Juman Lpizra says she needs to arrive on campus 40 minutes prior to her class’ start just to find parking – and even then she says she ends up parking far from where she needs to be.

“The biggest issue for UNH is they market themselves for residents and people who plan to dorm, and they forget that plenty of commuters attend and it’s not feasible to walk 10-15 minutes to class in the winter/rain,” said Lpizra.

According to the University of New Haven’s website, 23 commuter parking lots are available to commuter students with no fee, just the required green parking permit. Though 23 of the lots are for the green permit, some of the lots allow for more than one permit type. For example, P8 at Harugari Hall has designated blue permit spaces for faculty only.

Nicolas Rosales, first-year fire science major, said the school has a “severe parking crisis” on campus. He said he sometimes has to “camp out until someone is leaving.”

Rosales also said the traffic and the lack of safety in relation to where lots are located on the Boston Post Road and Campbell Avenue does not make for a positive experience as a commuter student.

Both students said the university would benefit from the addition of something such as a parking garage.

Rosales said more parking spaces would “alleviate some of the congestion and racing to find parking on campus.”

Lpizra said she thought the school could benefit from two garages for residents and commuters, with perhaps a third garage added later for commuters.

A review of the university’s parking system shows smaller lots spread throughout campus. A parking simulation show in Maxcy Hall sets the baseline for parking at the university, though the simulation was made by students who graduated between 2008 and 2013.

In comparison to 2013’s student body of around 6,400, as of 2023 it has grown to around 9,800.

The simulation also shows a fairly large parking lot outside Buckman Hall where the Bergami Center now sits.

Southern Connecticut State University in New Haven has a parking garage, which their commuter students appreciate. First-year SCSU student Casey Elliott said that though closer parking spaces fill up during busy class times, one of the other parking garages on their campus will always have parking. It may be a long walk, she said, but parking is always available.

A report, “On-Campus Student Parking Garage & Recreation Center” by civil engineering students at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Worcester, Mass., was published in February, while the school studied the possible creation of an additional parking garage.

The report said: “Parking is a key issue for students and faculty alike. In addition to students and faculty, parking affects potential students visiting the school and can affect their outlook on the college. This issue will remain but will only become more of an issue as vehicular traffic increases and as enrollment numbers increase.”