The limited parking spots available on campus for BYU students has become a widely discussed issue, with more tickets on car dashes and less punctuality in classes.
"If you don't get here, like, before 8 a.m., you're not really getting a spot … After that, if you come, you're probably running around all the different parking lots and everything. Probably for about 15 to 30 minutes, I would say," senior McKinsey Flores, who owns a Y Lot pass, explained.
Students can buy passes for 60 dollars to park in student lots, but students say the amount of parking passes sold well surpasses the amount of parking spots available.
Full Y Lots are not the only problem students face when trying to get to school. They report that if they do not have a parking pass, finding open spots on the street nearby campus is nearly impossible.
"I have to park far enough away that my Apple Watch thinks I'm on an outdoor walk ... As I'm walking to class, it'll just say, 'Oh, we noticed you're on an outdoor walk, would you like to log it?' And it's like, well, no," Alex Clifford, a junior, recounted to illustrate the difficulty of parking on the street.
Senior Sophie Knecht lives in Lindon.
Knecht said she has to leave about one hour before class starts to make it on time, whether using her parking pass or parking off campus.
BYU police reported the parking committee is very aware of these issues and reviews them monthly, but students complain they see no tangible plans to address them.
Students have begun brainstorming their own solutions.
"I think one thing we could do is open up more parking spots that are in the underground parking of the JFSB because it's mainly for staff," Knecht proposed. "It's really empty right now, so we could just open it up to students, and then the normal parking lot for students would be less packed."
Clifford suggested that if the university set aside more parking spots near specific buildings and allowed different majors to select their preferred lot, it could help ease the overcrowding in the current student lots.
"Even like a lottery could be good because then everyone knows that they get a spot," Flores said.
BYU police responded to student complaints by explaining that construction impacts parking at times, especially when they have to close parking lots.
Students hope their ideas will helps mediate the issue, even while construction is underway.