The parking situation at BYU has brought out an angry, ugly, rebellious side of me that I didn’t even know was there. This semester especially, parking has been the absolute bane of my existence.
I understand that it’s difficult to accommodate for the rising population of students, and that there is only so much space the university has to allocate to students.
Honestly, it’s just really frustrating that unless I get to campus at 7:45 a.m., it’s nearly impossible to find a parking spot that isn’t at least a half mile walk away from my classroom. I’ve had to have family members drop me off at school on days when I have 10 a.m. class because I know that my chances of securing a nearby spot are close to zero.
For commuter students like myself, driving a car to campus is necessary, as walking would take well over an hour and public transportation is not as easy, timely or accessible to me as a resident of a different city.
As previously mentioned, I understand that it is nearly impossible for the university to provide parking spots for the entire student body of more than 33,000 students. I believe that a reasonable solution would be to start building parking lot structures for students, especially as the university continues to build new buildings — like the new music school building being currently constructed — without accounting for the parking lots that said buildings are wiping out. It would be encouraging to see the parking citation funds that are being taken from students go towards something beneficial like a high rise parking structure.
Parking has been an issue at BYU for years, and I believe that it’s time the university has heard the complaints from students and made moves to correct the nightmare that driving a car to campus has become.
Amanda Burt
Las Vegas, Nevada
