Written for The Argo by Ramses Burgos

Let’s face it, the parking at Stockton is awful. Parking is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of college life, despite this issue getting so little acknowledgment. As Stockton University expands its resources to accommodate its growing student body, parking complications will only worsen. This has been previously covered by The Argo last semester, when Rhiannon Lepree, Director of Real Estate, shared her insights and predictions for this year’s parking situation as the campus reopens to full capacity for the first time since the lockdown in March 2020.

For instance, during the morning craze to zip into a parking spot, students may find their parked cars as victims of hit-and-run accidents and may have no way of determining who hit their car. One large contributor to on-campus parking complications is the encroachment of commuter students within residential lots; since parking at Stockton is free, many commuter students decide to park at housing parking lots.

By doing so, these students take away parking for those who live on campus. However, it is important to acknowledge that the commuter students are necessarily at fault. Rather, it seems that the university is unwilling to fund new parking.

In previous years, the issue of finding parking could be avoided by arriving at school early; those days have since gone by the wayside. It is very difficult to find parking even if you show up early. As early as 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, September 16, Lots 2, 3, 4, and 6B were full according to the Parking Information and Availability Data emailed to the student body by Jillian Heath, Real Estate & Parking Coordinator during the first few weeks of the semester. Within just 30 minutes, Lot 1 was also filled. 

To be clear, students are not asking for miracles to happen, but some extra convenience could go a long way.