By Jenny Boylan

UK’s available student parking is decreasing annually while student frustration takes the opposite route.

Falling from 6,277 in 2008 to 6,206 current student parking spaces, buying a permit and finding a spot to legally park on campus has become increasingly difficult for some students.

However, UK is not the only one in this boat. Other universities are having a hard time dealing with the same problem: a growing university with limited space for parking.  The difference is how they are choosing to deal with the problem and what students have to say.

Bill Brown, an integrated strategic communications senior said over the four years he has attended UK, the parking situation has slowly grown worse.

“When you do find a place to park, it is a toss-up whether or not you will get a parking ticket by one of the numerous (UK Parking and Transportation Services) employees who roam the campus at all times,” he said. “There is a need for more parking and it needs to be more affordable, because in my opinion, it is highway robbery.”

Ohio State University’s parking is similar to UK’s, in that there are less spaces than students, but OSU students feel the school is doing an adequate job of dealing with the situation by adding parking garages on campus.

“I feel that (OSU) is always trying to add parking garages and make parking opportunities more available,” said Megan Singer, an OSU communications junior. “I can think of three parking garages that have been added in just the past year.”

Northern Kentucky University accounting senior Emily Dean recently transferred from UK and is much happier with her current parking situation. Trying to find a space at UK was torture, she said, but NKU is a different story.

“I never have to worry about parking (at NKU), but at UK I always had to allow for an extra 30 minutes of travel time,” Dean said.

The University of Dayton does not allow freshmen to bring cars to school.  As a smaller university with less space for parking, stringent rules have been implemented.

“As a freshman, I probably would have said that any student with a car should be allowed to purchase a parking pass,” said Stephanie Leow, a UD chemical engineering senior. “Now I understand that there is limited university space for parking … and as with most things in life, seniority rules.”

Some UK students feel the lack of available parking is not just an inconvenience, but a safety issue, as well. Freshmen living on North Campus are sold “K” lot passes, or permits to park in the Commonwealth Football Stadium lot, located on the opposite end of campus.  Unless they park on a side street closer to their dorms, North Campus residents have to take a bus or the Campus Area Transit System to the lot, or hike across campus to their cars.

Justin Bencomo, a 2009 UK graduate, had this experience as a freshman.  Bencomo said he is sure that as the number of available on-campus parking spaces decrease, the number of students parking on side streets will increase and therefore, will become a greater risk to students’ safety.

“As a freshman living in Patterson Hall, it didn’t make sense for me to spend money on a parking pass for a lot that was so far away from my dorm,” Bencomo said. “The side street I had to park on was not well lit and I was always worried that my car would be broken into.”

Check out the related stories Broken meters do not equal free parking and UK Parking is losing ground and gaining facilities: New buildings to take over parking lots.