By HARRISON WALKER, VICTORIA ROZUMEK, FAHAD ALQAHTANI, and JESSICA MESINGER-MACDONALD

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

Parking at the University of New Haven can be a hassle some times. There never seems to be enough spaces available. Have you ever been late to a class because you couldn’t find a spot? Or, maybe you’re a professor and have been late to class as a result of the lack of parking. A parking pass for the school will cost you a steep price of $200. Tickets are given out to people without passes; people who are trying to get an education. There is also the problem of moving cars for snow and University events. Everyone who has a car on campus has been through at least one of these problems.

The University of New Haven has very limited parking available to student living on campus, computers and faculty. In order to ensure available parking, the university makes students purchase a parking pass if they would like to park on campus. These parking passes are purchased through campus police and cost two hundred dollars for the year. In purchasing a parking pass, one is supposed to be ensured a parking space however, that is not always the case. The university has designated parking areas for students living on campus, commuters, and faculty but visitors or students who are parking on campus illegally often take these. This is unfair to the students who paid the two hundred dollars for a parking pass and is unable to get a space or has to park far away from their designated location. Sometimes, students with a parking pass are unable to park in their designated area and must take a space in a parking area not meant for them. Although campus police try to eliminate the cars on campus illegally, there are still many students that get away with parking illegally and take away from the students who actually paid and deserve to have a parking spot readily available to them.

As we know university of New Haven has good safety by the police of university of New Haven. The parking of UNH looks nicely and organized for student and also the employees. As we know that each year UNH do accept many student. So there are many students who have cars and they would park in the parking space of UNH. In this situation they park in the beginning of the semester and they do not know that they will get a ticket from UNH police. Then the student they got shocked when they know they got a ticket without noticing them. And they go ask why that ticket the police say you have no sticker. In this situation students get a sticker and put it on their cars. Later they come and look for parking space there would no more space to park so they park in a wrong place for the first time. What the police do they towing the car and that cost about 175$. So in my opinion this is really embarrassing for not finding a park. Next time student have to park far away from their classes and that is not fear for student who come to University Of New Haven and come up with a little issue that may be show that UNH have not respects for student. I believe that making more parking space in our university is better so student can park any time inside University Of New Haven so they can be near to get in their classes by the exact time.

With all the costs of parking and ticketing and towing it is only understandable that the school also asks students to relocate their cars. I mean this is sincere sarcasm. Our school is located in Connecticut, therefore snow is expected. Logically the school needs to plow the parking lots so it can reopen as soon as possible but does this give the school the right to demand us to park else wears? Yes it makes sense, I am not arguing the logic of the ease of plowing empty parking lots to plowing full parking lots, and I am fully aware that we still park on campus, just north campus, but after all the fees we pay is it asking too much? Now imagine you, a student that has paid their parking pass fee and followed all the other school parking rules now wants to go to the football game. The game is a home game so all you need to do is walk up to north campus right? Wrong, the school decides that any cars located at north campus must be relocated to main campus, where you usually are prohibited from parking, to accommodate those who do not live on campus driving to the game. Instead of having those who are coming to the game park where ever there is parking, north campus, main campus, or south campus, they ask you, the paying student, to walk to north campus and drive your car to main campus. Then you get to walk back up for north campus to watch the game. Now you have had to walk up to north campus twice and that’s just for the beginning of the game. Once the game is over you need to walk back to your car, drive it to north campus to park it, and walk back to main campus. Exhausting.

This parking problem is felt by everyone on campus. It is felt by students. It is felt by staff members. It is even felt by parents and friends occasionally. We are late to class because of parking. We are forced to pay an extra $200 to park on campus each semester. We are given parking tickets if we do not have a parking pass. Also, the movement of cars during special events, such as football games, resembles a circus. This situation is inconvenient and I am sure much of the student body would agree.