By Steffanie Wynn
BYU parking penalties and rules have changed in recent years, but there is one thing that has not: those who violate parking regulations pay - and it''s not cheap.
Currently there are more than 25 different types of parking and traffic violations enforced on campus, according to BYU Parking Services.
Fines can vary from $10 parking citations, to a $300 fine for getting caught driving on campus after being banned or a $200 fine for displaying forged, altered or stolen parking permits.
There is even a special citation for students who participate in ticket scams.
A ticket scam is using deceptive measures to avoid parking tickets, like putting an old ticket on the windshield to make it look like the driver has already received a citation, according to BYU Parking Services. A ticket scam citation is not cheap, often costing students a regular citation fee plus an additional $50. Most often, a ticket scam citation also comes with a referral to the Honor Code Office.
Jeff Candrian, an April alumnus who now works in Orem, was banned from driving on BYU campus for life after receiving seven parking violations, not including warnings, in a 12-month period.
'I never got a parking permit,' Candrian said. 'Everyone told me that the times I had classes the lots would be full anyway.'
So instead, Candrian parked wherever he could find a spot including 'A' lots and 30-minute stalls. It didn''t take long for before he started getting parking citations, but because he didn''t have a permit, it was harder for Parking Services to track him down, Candrian said.
Candrian''s parents eventually received a certified letter informing them that he had been banned from parking and driving on BYU campus for life, Candrian said.
He eventually appealed the ban, and in front of the appeals committee, admitted he knowingly violated the parking regulations.
'I owned up to my tickets,' Candrian said. 'It was cold in December and there was no way I was walking to school in that weather. I told them the truth.'
The committee that heard his plea agreed to remove the ban on the condition that he didn''t receive any additional parking citations for one year, Candrian said.
Robert Campbell, a mechanical engineering major from Phoenix, said if he could change one thing about parking on BYU campus it would be to create more stalls.
'There are just not enough spots,' said Campbell. 'Early in the morning it''s good, but if you get there past 8 it takes a lot longer to find a spot.'
BYU Parking Services is sometimes willing to reduce the amount of the citation fine if it is paid within seven days of being issued.
'The first ticket I got was when I was still in high school and came to visit my brother where he worked at the Eyring Science Center,' Campbell said. 'That was ridiculous. The second ticket I got was all my fault, but they reduced the fine for me anyway.'
During the spring and summer terms, the parking rules change.
While all lots are still enforced, all 'G' lots are open for use by any BYU student with a current permit. 'A' lots numbered 18 and up are also available for parking to anyone with a current permit, with the exception of lot 51 by the MTC and 27 by the Snell Building, said Treena Bolingbroke, supervisor at BYU Parking Services.