It has been said before, and until it is resolved, it will probably be said again, that the parking, or lack thereof, is the biggest issue on this campus.
Unless you’re a freshman and are prohibited from having your vehicle on campus, every University of New Haven student has encountered the problem of circling the parking lots until you are beyond frustrated and probably a little dizzy, unsuccessfully looking for a parking spot.
With the addition of Westside Hall, it is obvious that UNH’s campus is exponentially growing every year. The problem is that as the number of students increase, the number of parking spaces decrease.
Currently, there are not even enough spaces for even half of the campus population and unless something is done, this is only going to get worse.
As a commuter, going to class is like going to battle; we are forced to fight with one another over the few parking spaces available, and, let me tell you, apparently all is fair while searching for parking.
As if the commuter lots aren’t difficult enough to navigate with tons of students rushing from class to class, the fact that there is no system of who gets what parking spots first makes the struggle that much worse.
There are times when I have been forced to skip class because I just could not find a parking space. I could be driving around the same parking lot for a half hour when someone with a much faster, much smaller car swoops in and steals the spot I was waiting for.
In the parking lots at UNH, the most aggressive driver usually wins the spot, while us more passive, patient drivers suffer the consequences by missing class.
The fact that parking is such a huge issue isn’t new or shocking to anyone at UNH.
Take look at the First Year Success Center Commuter Resources page online and they have a whole section dedicated to explaining how hard it is to find parking.
“Parking is one of the greatest challenges commuters face. There are never enough spots,” the site explains.
My question is—if everyone knows what a challenge this is, why is no one doing anything to fix it?
UNH is making all these great changes to better itself as a University; it is adding residence halls, updating old ones, and even adding a new college. Yet it is doing nothing to combat the biggest issue of all: parking on campus.
