Students were unhappy about the possible increase, although there were mixed feelings about whether it is necessary. Junior Denise Hampton said students shouldn t be punished with higher parking fees just because enrollment at the university is expected to grow. That s silly that we should have to pay because there are more students attending school. Junior Justin Powers said he d have to see the numbers of incoming students and costs for building before he could say the fee increase would be justified, but added that it would probably be fair if it meant solving parking problems in the future. Aside from private donations, there is no way to finance the construction of the parking structures but to raise the parking fees, said Director of Support Services Ronald Grant.
State law allocates funds from the budget, tuition and even parking citations to other areas.
Whatever parking we have has to depend on the permits we sell. A second parking structure on campus has been funded and is expected to begin construction in the fall, Grant said. The funds from the fee increase would go toward building two more, a grand total of four parking structures on campus. Since the next structure is scheduled to have 1,000 available spaces, Grant said it s easy to see why the fee increase is necessary. Del Biaggio said that other schools have been forced to raise parking fees recently to accommodate the surge in enrollment.