An issue generating lots of complaints at USC is parking. It’s a problem that affects a majority of the student body here in one way or another, the main issues being distance, price and availability.
Distance is a bigger deal for students that have to park at the meters. Students in garages have usually selected one that is closer to where their classes are each semester, but students that use meters park on a first come, first serve basis.
I’ve had classmates miss class and then come into the next session to say that they couldn’t find a spot, so they just didn’t show up.
The next issue is price. All garages on the USC campus cost a whopping $400 a semester to park in. Many students either cannot afford to pay this price or don’t want to. There is the option of parking in the Greek Village, which costs $260 per semester, but this is only available to students that are in Greek life and live in Greek Village. Plus, spots in Greek Village often are oversold.
Oversold lots are common around campus. Many times, when someone tries to park, all the spots will be full and students resort to meters or paying an hourly rate at Bull Street garage if they are lucky enough to find a spot.
Making sure that there is parking availability for students should be a greater priority, because ultimately it affects attendance in class as well.
This could easily be fixed by simply adding more parking. There are multiple lots around campus that could be transformed into parking garages. This would multiply the amount of spaces available and allow more students to be able to have a secure parking spot without having to worry about whether they will be able to get to class on time.
With a greater amount of spaces, the university should justify not overselling spaces in those lots. Students should be able to be confident that the money they spent on a space was not a complete waste. There’s nothing worse than trying to find a spot in a lot you paid for and then having to leave and pay for a meter or another lot.
Whether it utilizes these fixes or not, the university needs to address the problems that students are experiencing while trying to find parking around campus.