Growing pains

 Two parking lots, which include 265 spaces, were permanently removed this spring to make way for the new dining and residence halls.

One lot, located behind the Belvin-Buchanan and King Halls, contained 61 parking spaces.

The other, located across from the Student Health Center, contained 204 spaces. Students have been redirected to the Bowers Stadium for parking but that lot is under construction as well.

"Several resident students, especially over at Sorority Hill, have decided to purchase parking garage contracts," David Kapulko, assistant director of parking and transportation said. "Parking garage contracts are $300 for the fall and spring semesters, and $75 for summer I and II sessions."

Currently, there are 7,573 spaces for all the students, faculty and staff. To combat the problem of inadequate parking for a growing campus, the university added 129 spaces to stadium parking.

For the future, the university plans on providing three additional parking garages.

The construction has not caused many problems for some commuters.

"There isn't truly a shortage of spaces," Nick Cheek, senior, said. "It's just that they're all located near the football stadium and nobody wants to walk all that way.

"When I can, I try to walk all over campus to avoid the chaos that is parking, but even when I can't my persistence usually finds me a spot," He said.

At the moment there is only one parking garage that contains 255 unreserved parking spaces, making 4,627 total parking spaces for commuter and residential students. After construction is complete on all the new structured parking space, expected sometime before 2020, there will be between 9,000 and 10,000 parking spaces for students, faculty, and staff.