A newly constructed staff lot beside the Lloyd-Ricks Building which is scheduled to open next week is the most recent effort to alleviate what many students perceive as a parking dilemma on campus. However, Parking Services Director Rick Welch maintains that there is a not a problem.
“We do not have a parking problem,” Welch said.
Welch said Mississippi State has the highest space per student ratio in the SEC at around .87, which means there is almost one space for every student.
“Other schools like Auburn and Arkansas have ratios of around .55,” Welch said.
“On any given day at any given time, I can find at least 1,000 empty parking spaces on campus,” he said. “There are always empty spaces in the lot between the Hump and Sanderson Center.”
Students disagree.
“There aren’t enough spaces, and they aren’t close enough to where the classes are,” Tara Stevenson, a junior accounting major, said.
The lots at the Hump and Sanderson may be too far away for some students, but Welch also noted some closer to the center of campus. One is behind Hamlin and Duggar halls. The lot was designated as North Zone residence parking but now it is commuter student also, Welch said. The lot has about 450 seldom-used spaces and is only about 250 yards from the back of Hilbun Hall.
Welch also pointed out that the “Swamp Lot” behind McKee Hall and the Roberts laundry building is rarely full.
Students like Dan Moses, a junior industrial engineering major, don’t mind parking farther away. “I’d rather park out by the Hump or by the Baptist Student Union and walk.” Moses said. Moses said he also finds it easier to carpool to campus when he can to help with the traffic and parking difficulties.
Other attempts made by Parking Services to alleviate parking problems and confusion this year include changing the Day Student parking title to “Commuter.” Welch said the change was made to be “more in line with the industry.”
He also said students taking night classes who did not purchase parking decals because of the term “Day Student” contributed to the change.
There are plans to have the gravel parking lot east of McComas paved by next fall, and several multi-level parking garages are in the works for the next five to ten years, Welch said.
An indirect way the division hopes to help the so-called student-parking problem is through building a new staff parking area near Scott Field and converting day student spots near Allen Hall to staff. Also, a staff lot south of Hand Lab is scheduled to open in October.
“This may ease the students’ difficulties, maybe through the trickle-down effect,” Welch said, because the staff could have been taking up spaces elsewhere.
Welch said he also recommends taking an alternate route to campus and parking by Humphrey Coliseum and taking the shuttle.
“The Maroon shuttle route can get you from the Coliseum stop to the Union in three to five minutes, and the Green route can get you back in about the same time,” he said.
“There is no reason to get a ticket when parking on campus,” Welch added. “Just park in the correct lot, inside the lines and not up on the curb or anything, and it is possible for you to go all four years without a ticket.”