Parking at Saint Xavier University has been a much discussed topic amongst students this semester. A few concerns have been raised, based on the student status here at the university; because one’s parking experience at SXU varies according to your choice of housing: resident or commuter. Different problems arise depending on your living status.
Parking as a resident student is fairly simplistic. Upon purchasing a parking permit, which are sold as full year or semester permits, students are given a choice of lot on a first come, first serve basis, allowing resident students to pick a lot in regards to their housing location. However, the students are restricted to park only in the lot designated. Public Safety is strict about resident students remaining in their designated lots, so other than the occasional visitor, there is really minimal interference with resident parking.
Those resident students permitted to park in Lot 6, between McCarthy and O’Brien halls, are at an even greater advantage. Lot 6 is guarded by a gate, and students must use their ID cards to swipe into the lot. However, the ID card will only work if the student swiping has already been approved to part in that lot, keeping visitors, temporary guests, and others out of the lot. This method of swiping guarantees a spot for all students who pay to park in Lot 6.
However, in the case of commuter students, parking can often become a complete nightmare. Because Saint Xavier is a commuter school, the amount of students coming in and out of SXU on a daily basis vastly outnumbers the amount of resident students whose cars remain in designated lots. The nightmare comes from the limited amount of parking options that the university has.
With the majority of classes occurring in the Warde Academic Center, parking in a lot anywhere near the Warde is nearly impossible after a certain time. The lots closest to the Warde and surrounding the Shannon Center begin to fill up as early as 8:00 am to 9:30 am, during the time of the earliest classes that the university offers. By 11:00 am, every parking spot up to Lot 9 by the School of Nursing is usually taken. Basically, if a commuter student does not have a morning class and doesn’t arrive at the school before, he or she will most likely be parking by the lots closer to the Quad halls, or even by Student Media. The same is true of these lots around 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm as well, during night class hours.
Parking concerns are voiced mainly by the commuter students of Saint Xavier. At $140 for a full-year parking permit ($75 for the fall semester), many of the commuter students feel that parking options at the university are not efficient in regards to availability and convenience. With resident students, visitors, temporary guests, Shannon Center members and other members of the community coming to Saint Xavier on a daily basis, some have even gone so far as to describe parking at the university as a “madhouse.”
Without the funds for a parking structure that would allow all vehicles on campus equal distance from all of the buildings on campus, it’s difficult to remedy the growing concerns of the commuter students. A wise investment could involve guarded parking of specific lots, similar to parking in Lot 6. This would restrict the amount of people coming into lots, reserving these spots for students coming to the university to attend class or other school-related activities. However, not only would this be a costly method for the university, but it also has potential to create waiting time while students wait to swipe into the lot for access. This is especially likely for bigger lots, like the parking lot in front of the Warde.
Should the university pursue to ease commuter student parking at minimum to no cost, the idea of designated lots, similar to the way resident student parking is handled, could be pursued. Designating vehicles to specific lots on campus would essentially guarantee their spots in that lot, so long as penalties for parking in non-designated areas were enforced. Designated parking would greatly reduce the amount of unexpected vehicles entering a lot and would ensure that students paying to park in the university are indeed getting an immediate parking spot, rather than wasting 5-10 minutes locating an open spot. Organization of the university parking lots in this manner might just be the solution that commuter students at SXU are looking for.