Parking guards ticket, patrol lots

http://star.txstate.edu/node/879
Level:Local
 

Concerning:A problem/issue that individuals/families face

Category:University Parking/Education

Why is this important’/how does this affect individuals/families? Parking is a huge issue on campus. Many students pay huge parking permit fees only to drive around for an hour trying to find a parking spot.
 
My View: Parking on Texas State University's campus is a huge problem many students, including myself are frustrated with. When reading this article I was shocked by the amount and cost of tickets given annually. I think that in itself should tell parking services something about the lack of parking. I don't think that the people working for parking services are directly to blame, and I don't think they enjoy giving out tickets, but I think something has to be done. Although the university has spent millions of dollars on parking lots and garages for students to use, there still seems to be a shortage of parking all over campus. I think it is unfair that students are paying over a hundred dollars (at bare minimum) to park near campus, yet are being forced to arrive on campus before 7am to be guarunteed a spot, or are having to drive around for an hour, stalking people for their parking spots. Personally, I think that if fire code allows, speck street garage should have been design to cost less aesthetically and instead more money should have been allotted to increase the height of the small four story garage to allow for more parking. But I think if parking were not such a dreadful experience less tickets would be given annually. With less income from parking tickets, parking services would be profiting less money to go towards the garages and parking lots that rely on fees and tickets to pay off their outrageous debts. But on the contrary, more spots would also mean more parking permits and the profit from that would increase for parking services. I think an increase in available parking near campus would be beneficial not only to the parking services people spending so much time writing out tickets, but also to attendance percentages. I know there have been plenty of times where I've miss class because I couldn't find parking or I just didn't want to deal with searching for a spot..