Stockton is a multiple campus institution. The current student body in 2024 contains over 8,700 students, and nearly 1,500 staff. Parking in Galloway is limited to 5,500 parking spaces. In 2018, the University added 350 more spots for the Galloway campus in 2018. Yet, mention anything related to parking on the Galloway campus and expect groans. 

Students will be the first to tell you that parking here is difficult. In regards to its mythological status among students, the only thing in the Pine Barrens that’s more feared than Stockton parking is the Jersey Devil. “Parking is how I realized that I have a deep anger inside of me,” said alumnus Becca Simonian. 

I’ve felt and seen the sheer anger that Stockton parking can cause. My freshman year, while sprinting towards the Arts and Science building for a class I was 30 minutes late for, a fellow student was sprinting behind me. After realizing that we were both in the same predicament, she turned to me and said, “if I could put a sinkhole anywhere in the world, I would put it under Lot 1,” and then departed towards C Wing. Despite arriving 30 minutes prior to my class, I was 30 minutes late. 

I soon learned through veterans of Stockton’s parking that Lot 7 is where most people park later in the day, as it’s tucked behind a backroad and some residential buildings. In Stockton’s thunder-dome , it’s a common sight to see cars following each other in search of the next free spot. 

Faculty are also dealing with Stockton’s parking issues. Part-time professors are in the same boat as students, often competing with the student body to get spots. Jennifer Williams, a professor for the Environmental Studies program at Stockton University, has battled with Stockton’s parking infrastructure since arriving at the University. 

Williams feels that adjunct faculty are in the same situations as the students in regards to parking, as professors will be driving in circles with students to find a spot. For her 10:30 a.m. class, Williams shows up at 8 a.m. to bypass the routine. Stockton University sells reserved spots for faculty, which cost $400 annually. For adjunct professors, such as Williams, that’s “not good enough for part time staff.” Financially, it’s a serious burden to pay for a spot that these professors would only use for a few days out of the week. “My daughter is coming here for college. I told her to get here at 8 a.m., you’re not going to get a spot by 8:30 a.m.” 

She isn’t wrong. In data provided by Stockton University, six out of the 10 lots on the Galloway campus are labeled as “full” beginning at 8:30 a.m., and don’t start emptying out until 1 p.m. The lots that remain available are located by the baseball fields and housing located on the north side of campus, leaving students to hike at least fifteen minutes from those lots to the classrooms. 

Stockton parking’s woes are a result of its best asset. Parking at Stockton is free, a far cry from the other universities of New Jersey that charge for parking passes. While very student-friendly, it’s not very infrastructure-friendly. The school could start charging for parking, however, it could be argued that would cause more outrage than the free parking already does. 

It’s likely that Stockton University will continue to have a parking problem. While the student body decreased by around 1,000 students since 2019, there has been an overall trend of growth. In a plan provided by Stockton University in 2020, a new parking garage had been proposed to be built for the Galloway campus near Big Blue. A space that’s already occupied by cars parked in the grass, it’s the prime candidate for a potential expansion that would be able to accommodate over 1,200 vehicles. Whether or not Stockton is able to address that in time is determined by the administration’s decision and the speed at which the proposed parking garage is built; if it’s even built at all.