In the wake of news that The University of Alabama will be raising its tuition for the upcoming school year, last week the University announced the price of parking permits would also be raised for all parking locations.
Ronnie Robertson, UA director of traffic services, said the price increase will be relative to the classification of the permit. There will be a $10 increase for perimeter permits, while commuter, residential and faculty/staff permits will increase by $20 and reserve permits will increase by $30.
Robertson also said the price increase would be instituted in order to fund UA Parking Services, a branch of the University that is forced to fund itself through the money generated from the sale of parking permits.
“Parking Services is an auxiliary service, which basically means that we do not receive any state funding,” Robertson said. “All the revenue we receive is funneled back into the University to pay for parking deck debt, parking deck maintenance, road debt service, construction, replacement and repair, parking lot construction, replacement and repair, signs for campus, buses for transit, equipment, road/parking stripping and salaries for Parking Services staff.”
Parking on campus has become an issue at many universities around the country, and in several instances, administrations have been accused of over-selling parking permits; however, Robertson said it is often a misinterpretation of permit numbers that there are too many parking passes in circulation for not enough spaces.
“Since students attend classes at different times each day, parking lot capacities vary during the day,” Robertson said. “As a result, we use demand management tools when calculating permit sales for particular parking lots. We attempt to maximize the lot use, which allows as many customers as possible to park close to their building choice.”
Robertson said the growing student body would not present an unmanageable problem for UA Parking Services.
“We expect the number to be similar to this year’s number,” Robertson said. “In February, we had 23,169 active permits for students, faculty and staff on campus.”
Despite Robertson’s assurances, students around campus are concerned over the increased price of parking passes after increases were announced on the price of tuition as well.
David Perry, a senior majoring in political science and history, said the constant remodeling was most likely behind students being saddled with more costs.
“I’m not happy about it, just because the price of everything seems to always go up,” Perry said. “Every year there is a new addition to everything, and I am always hearing about new building projects and wondering where the money is coming from.”
Perry said while he is not as financially stressed as other students, he still has to cover some expenses and increased prices around campus present problems to students on a budget.
Along with parking permits, Perry pointed to other ways that the University has raised prices that leave students with empty pockets.
“I think it is all kind of relative to the same thing. If they raise the price of one thing, they are going to raise another,” Perry said. “If the University raises football ticket prices, then they raise parking and then they raise tuition. Books are also a racket, because they sell them to you for $100 a pop, then buy them back for $10 – its all about getting money; at the end of the day, that’s it.”
