Although I have never understood the insatiable need to catch up with other universities and colleges in increasing tuition and fees, the need for a new parking plan is undeniable. The problem seems to be that students aren’t the immediate winners in the new parking and traffic plan.
A recent issue of the MSU Memo states “gated parking lots, higher decal prices and the largely unlamented demise of Five Points intersection are among the changes planned for campus by the start of the 2005 fall semester.”
It further states that the average parking decal fee in the Southern region is about $100 per year. Therefore, MSU will increase parking decals from $25 to $50. It has been estimated that $29 is the average annual cost to maintain a single parking space, and that’s excluding funds for new projects.
The plan calls for West Lee Boulevard to come to an end at the M-Club and for Russell Street to be expanded into three lanes, which will curve into Stone Boulevard and lead to the new student parking on the perimeter of campus.
It appears that if you don’t want to have to walk a quarter mile to class, you will probably have to pay exorbitant fees to have your own spot in a gated parking lot.
Upper-class commuters will be assigned spots in certain zones, which include the McComas pit, the Herbert pit and the soon-to-be-paved old intramural field. Apparently, the intramural field will be paved first instead of the two existing pits. I also have been told that the tentative plan includes some lots to be designated as “general parking” after 3 p.m. for people who have business at nearby places like the library.
The few hundred freshmen commuters will have to park at the Humphrey Coliseum. It’s grossly unfair for them to pay $50 and have to park that far away while a faculty member gets to park in a convenient staff parking spot for the same price.
What about parking for students who live on campus? We need a plan to fix the housing parking lots, or the alignment repair places around town will keep raking in student money. As someone who lives on campus, I can assure you it does not cost $29 to maintain a parking spot at Smith Hall. Lots like the one I use don’t appear to have been repaired for years.
As far as the student-friendly plans go, the paving of all the dirt pits, the new parking garage and a host of other changes said to be coming are reported as “contingent on funding from the Legislature to the College Board on down.” People, “contingent on funding from the Legislature” means it will never happen. We can’t fund basic needs in this state; I don’t see the College Board or the Legislature forking over money for a parking garage.
What should we do?
In all fairness, people should pay for convenience. We should have a gradual cost system that mirrors our American tax structure. The better off you are, the more you pay. Cost should be as follows: commuter freshmen $35, on-campus students $40, upper-classmen commuters $45 and staff $50. That’s the only fair way to do it. We most certainly don’t want a regressive parking fee system, do we? I am not against the faculty, but if students need to get off their lazy butts and walk (as a staff member said to me), then staff need to pay more for close parking.
As students, we should support the effort to fix the traffic and parking plans on campus, but we hope the university will give us a little token of appreciation since we are “footing the bill” for this new plan.