Luis Burgos

Research Summary Project

Professional Writing

Colleges are made to cater to the students in any way to guide them throughout their

education. College campuses provide a lot for students but there are going to be some kind of

issues. Students pay a lot of money to go to school and shouldn’t have to spend as much as they

do for a parking permit. One of the main problems that many colleges have is the lack of

parking for the majority of students that want to drive to campus. Colleges should prioritize

spending money on transportation and parking lots on campus. The majority of students drive to

class which causes lack of spaces available and that should not be concerned with parking. I

understand there isn’t going to be a parking for all of the students that attend the school but the

parking needs to be addressed. Parking is a big issue for students because it takes up a lot of

time and it is very costly for the struggles that comes with it.

Finding parking on a college campus takes longer than it should. Parking causes students

to be late to class or any events that they need to attend. It requires people to leave really early if

they want to arrive on time. According to FSU News, one of the students that was interviewed

said, “parking requires him to leave about 30 minutes earlier than normal to accommodate for the

search of a parking.” Students are required to drive around until they see someone pull out of a

parking spot to get an open spot near the building that they need to go to. At FSU, there are

some people that schedule classes around 8 am to “avoid the chaos of circling the parking garage

for hours” (Sustainable Campus). Another option would be to park far away at a different

building which still consumes time with the distance and the crosswalks. This can be dangerous
and depending on the weather that day, it could make it even worse. Parking is an issue at many

colleges and the price of the permit is not at reasonable price for all of the trouble.

The price for a parking permit is too much for amount of trouble it is to find an available

space. Parking permits could vary depending in what school you attend and it only allows you to

park in certain areas. Some colleges offer it for free but most of them are expensive, like the

price for a USF permit is around $200. There are a lot of areas that are open on campus but are

restricted and if you are found parking there you will receive a ticket. At FIU in 2020, “The

Parking and Transportation Department has 1.2 million in uncollected parking citations over the

past seven years” (South Florida Media Network). There are students that will rather park in a

spot that isn’t an area their permit allows them to park instead of waiting for a spot to open up.

They would rather pay the fine or risk getting back before a fine is given to get a parking easily

accessible to them. Students were surveyed at FIU about the number of tickets they have been

given and six out of the seventeen said they received at least one parking ticket on campus

(South Florida Media Network). This occurs at most colleges and Florida A&M University is a

school that is the aware of the issue.

Colleges around the country have these same problems throughout their campus and

Florida A&M University (FAMU) is including in one of these schools. For parking to be so

inconvenient it is very frustrating for students such as Brandon Spencer. Brandon was asked

about parking at the university and said, “trying to park before class is like a maze.” Parking for

him takes around 20 minutes and causes him to be consistently late to class. Brandon is either

circling looking for a spot for a long time or parking far away and walking which takes up more

time. Students have told their professors about the issue but they are usually just blown off and

told to get to campus earlier. While there isn’t a clear solution to fix the parking problem,
FAMU offers free shuttle services as a transportation student can use. Schools should invest

some money into the transportation to make it more convenient to use. Instead students pay for

transportation such as Uber and Lyft.

This is an image of the parking garage at Florida A&M

University.

I have created a survey asking students a series of questions about USF parking. Most of

the people that answered my survey drive to campus for multiple days a week which means they

can contribute to my data. The results show that students agree to parking being hard to find and

having to leave early to make time to find a parking space. The data is split between the

searching time of parking of up to10 minutes and just before 20 minutes. The question should

have been asked in a smaller time frames to get better results. The majority of the students

disagreed to the question of a parking permit being at a reasonable price. There were no

recommendations of how the problem could be fixed but some of them said they would think

about paying more in order to increase the funds on fixing the parking problems at USF. There

are not many ideas that can fix the parking problems on college campuses but a solution should

be found to make it easier to access for students.

 The parking limitations on campuses are a known problem in colleges and there are not

being addressed to fix the issue. According the USF’s website, there are 20,000 parking spots

with more than 44,000 students on the main campus (USF The Oracle). The solution isn’t as

easy as adding new parking lots or garages. Campuses do not have many places to add areas for

more parking and it would only help the situation in that area. Colleges should invest more

money into alternative forms of transportation so it will give students more options and it will

open up spaces for others that are off campus. It would not fix the problem entirely, but it would

give students that have to drive to campus more places to park. The main transportation system

USF offers is the Bull Runner, which is a bus system they have on campus. The Bull Runner

needs to be updated because there is no particular schedule for it so students don’t know when

they are available to use. It makes it inconvenient for students because they would have to plan

it around their schedule and students do not know the routes of it. The university needs to

promote the option of using the bus more and make the bus system more efficient for students to

use.

This is an image of the routes that the electric buses take,

also known as the Bull Runner used at USF.
 In conclusion, parking is a big issue on college campuses and they happen in many places

other than Florida too. Not only is it time consuming, but it only costs a lot to get a permit every

year which piles up on all the money they have to spend on school already. Students should not

have to worry about not being able to find an open spot on campus. I understand there are a lot

of people that go everyday but it’s a reoccurring thing at almost any time of day and every

building. The only solutions that work for me are: parking further away and walking or taking

an online class. The problem needs to be fixed because students need to get to class and other

things on time and it could drive them away from coming to classes and wanting to get an

education. Transportation on campus should be improved to make it a reliable option for

students to use.
 Citations

Santillana, Jazmine, et al. “Parking on University Campuses Presents Real Challenges.” Parking

on University Campuses Presents Real Challenges, South Florida Media Network, 14 Apr.
2022, https://sfmn.fiu.edu/parking-on-university-campuses-presents-real-challenges/. 

Ensign, Isabella. “Students Respond to on-Campus Parking Problems.” FSView, FSU News, 10

Oct. 2021, https://www.fsunews.com/story/news/2021/10/10/students-respond-campus-
parking-problems/6056453001/. 

“State of the University: Parking Problems.” State of the University: Parking Problems,

Sustainable Campus, 28 Sept. 2016,
https://sustainablecampus.fsu.edu/about/news/article/state-university-parking-problems. 

Guerrier, Kylan. “Rattlers Are Fed up with Lack of Parking on Campus.” The Famuan, 3 Oct.
2022, http://www.thefamuanonline.com/2022/10/03/rattlers-are-fed-up-with-lack-of-
parking-on-campus/. 

Burgos, L. October 28, 2022. https://usf.az1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0wEz4T6LNHBLSxE.

2022 USF Student Survey.

Rachel, Beaird. “Opinion: New Garage Is Not Solution to Parking Problem.” The Oracle, 28
Mar. 2022, https://www.usforacle.com/2022/03/27/opinion-new-garage-is-not-solution-to-
parking-problem/.