Most students at Clemson University would agree that parking on campus is a definite issue. Most pay for some sort of parking pass whether they live on campus or in off-campus housing. Yet,it seems like everyone is still fighting to find places to park. Some students have even resorted to paying for metered parking. Why can’t a student who already pays for a parking pass obtain a spot to park in without feeling like they are in a race or competition with the rest of the student body?
There’s nothing worse than being in a hurry trying to get to your classes, or maybe just trying to get back to your dorm, from being off campus only to find that there is nowhere for you to park. You can try to find times where you feel as if there would be more spaces open, but in the end, you will most likely have the same outcome: no spot to park in. It’s almost as if you can’t plan ahead or be early enough to get a parking spot.
While all of the problems that revolve around on-campus parking seem to be highly evident, the construction isn’t making it any better. All of the construction around campus revolves around building and taking up more space. For example, the new construction that is to take place in the Cooper Library parking lot is only aiding this ongoing issue that affects the students and staff of Clemson University. Construction as a whole definitely contributes to the overall issue of parking on campus not even in just this example. The small amount of parking that the staff and students do have tends to be either difficult to get to or sometimes blocked off completely due to the construction that is consistently taking place.
Every year Clemson sells thousands of a variety of parking passes to students. Sometimes it seems as if there are more passes being sold than there are spots to park in. While this does seem to be a large part of the issue, anyone will agree that when looking for a parking spot there are many cars that are parked in spots with either the wrong parking pass or no parking pass at all. It’s very difficult to come up with a solution for this issue because campus parking services are consistently doing their job. Clearly there is no end-all be-all solution.
What it all really boils down to is the fact that Clemson University is an institution with so many students and faculty members, that something as simple as finding a place to park has become nearly impossible. There are small ways that this issue could be alleviated, but for right now all we can do is cross our fingers and hope to get a parking spot.
