Welcome to UVU, best known for its open enrollment, high inclusivity, awesome education and lack of parking. Like many other higher education institutions, finding a parking stall is a sincere battleground. The only difference between UVU and other universities is that UVU boasts about being the highest enrolled college in the state.
More people means the need for more parking, right? Wrong.
What UVU needs to do is incorporate alternative solutions. But, for the sake of argument, let’s discuss increasing parking for a moment.
I polled fellow students on Facebook and Twitter about whether or not we a) have an issue with parking, and b) should have an increase in student fees to cover the costs. Most students who responded agreed that parking is an issue and that they would love to see an increase in parking, but 95 percent of respondents did not want to see an increase in fees for the parking. There lies our first problem.
We can’t ask for multi-million dollar deals for underground parking, parking extensions or parking garages without some way to have them paid for. The first resource to provide for students usually comes from student fees.
Students want all of the bells and whistles, but without having to pay for it. Too bad it doesn’t work that way.
I do agree that with the influx of students there should be more parking available to students. But, treat it like the roadways. When we open up more roadways, they still get full. It also increases our poor air quality and pollution, which I recently ranted about.
The most practical solution is something I’ve mentioned time and time again. UVU needs to offer a more available and flexible bus pass. The U, Weber and Westminster all offer a comp’d student pass for their students. The U does add it to the student fees, however. But even then, most UVU students interviewed said they’d be willing to bite the bullet on that, just to have a more flexible, affordable and convenient alternative measure to the parking dilemma.
It’s time for UVU to think more about our environment, students and their experience. Rework that UTA contract and offer us a better solution.
I have to agree with this issue, a more flexible bus pass is the best solution. Personally I think we’re doing well with parking, especially with the new parking near the GT building. Not everyone uses it though because it is “Too far away”. We’ve heard this saying before “UVU doesn’t have a parking problem, it has a walking problem” this to an extent is very true. Hopefully in the future more students will learn to leave their luxuries behind and be more willing to take other modes of transport. I find myself guilty of driving to school at times however I do support our new parking lot, it’s good exercise anyway. Soon we will see a future well minded students, students who are willing to walk from their car, student’s who are willing to take a little extra time to commute to school.
Parking is a huge issue. I’ve seen people fight over parking spots, that’s pathetic. Stop having outside, non-UVU events at the UCCU center for starters. I pulled two fathers apart at the high school wrestling tournament, and called the police on another pair because they act like they’re juveniles and get in fist fights over parking.
Students pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the lots, and we should not at all be subjected to that kind of behavior, ever. According to our code of conduct, the police are responsible for keeping the peace, yet when these events happen they’re nowhere to be found. I also never see parking services patrolling on those days.
By the way, most of our student fees are allocated to student government and the multitude of trips they go on every semester. Maybe we should be using student fees to improve conditions for the students, and not sending a select few who won a popularity contest all over the country. Just sayin’.