Parking is a constant topic of heated conversation at the University of New Haven. No matter where students go on campus, they are guaranteed to hear at least one person complain about the parking, or lack there of.

“It was hard enough last year to get parking, but now it’s even harder to find a spot with those three lots gone,” Kayla Katt, a sophomore, said.

However, this is nothing new. Struggling to find a parking space has always been an issue for students of the university.

“I knew the commuter parking was bad, but I never knew how bad until I became a commuter myself,” Ryan Elblein, a commuter, said. “I have spent so much as forty minutes driving around trying to find a spot.”

Kiki Dudley, also a commuter, said she once spent the entirety of a class period searching for a place to park. “[Driving around for that long] to me is completely unacceptable. Then when I finally get to class an hour late, the teacher blames me for not leaving early enough when in fact I’ve been driving around for two hours wasting my gas!”

Junior and senior residents can park in parking lots P11, P13, P20, P17 and P19, while sophomore residents are allotted spots at North Campus. Overflow parking spots are also available at North Campus.

“As a sophomore, if you live on campus you pay $200 for the parking pass, but still have to park all the way to North Campus,” said Billy Florio. “If you want to park closer to your residence hall then you get a ticket.”

Some students feel apprehensive when it comes to parking at North Campus; many feel the walk to and from campus can be dangerous very early in the morning or later at night.

“If you’re a sophomore, and you want to drive at night or early morning, you have to have someone go with you so you’re not walking up and back from North in the dark by yourself,” Kayla Walsh, a sophomore, said.

Campus police are available to escort students who feel uncomfortable with the walk to and from North Campus, in addition to UNH provided courtesy vans. In an email sent out over the summer, Mark DeLieto, Chief of Police, stated that both the North Campus and St. Paul’s Church parking lots would be serviced by courtesy vans Monday through Friday, from 5:30 a.m. to midnight.

The lack of parking is even leading to safety issues, not only for the drivers but for the students on campus as well.

“It’s becoming an issue for pedestrian students as well,” Gabby Nowicki said. “Kids that are driving to class are so desperate to find parking and not be late to class that they speed and barely stop at the stop signs.”

“Drivers are ruthless—I’ve almost gotten into accidents several times because people are cutting me off and stealing my spaces,” Kaitlin Mahar, a sophomore commuter, said. “It’s a Dodge eat Dodge world out there, and it isn’t safe.”

Students aren’t the only ones who struggle to find parking. Many staff members also have to compete for parking spots on campus.

“All my teachers have been late if my class is their first class of the day,” Walsh said. “A couple of them said they had to illegally park after being fifteen minutes late and one even had to keep leaving class to make sure his car wasn’t being towed.”

Beth Christian, a professor in the communications department, notes that parking is an issue on any college campus, but said that UNH charges a lot of money for parking passes considering the lack of parking.

Both staff members and residents on campus pay $200 to obtain parking passes, however commuters receive parking passes for free.

“I think commuters should pay too,” Prof. Christian said. “I know that may be an unpopular opinion.”

Kaitlin Mahar has a different opinion. “Residential students don’t have to bring their cars on campus, they choose to, so I can understand why they would need to pay, but commuters should be given the right to a free pass because there are few viable options to choose from to find alternate transportation.”

Mahar also adds that she believes teachers shouldn’t have to pay either. “They’re required to be here so that they can teach the students—they shouldn’t have to pay to do their jobs.”