Voice of the Student: Commuter-Only Parking

By Taylor Lorence, Contributor

A mong the roughly 15,000 students that attend the University of Akron, around 82% of those students are commuters according to the U.S. News and World Report College Best Colleges feature. Commuters at the University of Akron are defined by the national publication as students who do not live in college owned, operated, or affiliated housing.

Assuming the U.S. News numbers are correct, that makes 12,300 students that are commuters.

The University of Akron website states that there are 5,341 commuter-designated spaces available on campus at any given time. How are commuters able to find a parking when the number of spots available is less than half the amount of commuters that attend the school?

Being a commuter myself, this question has plagued me. How can Akron better treat commuters as a priority for parking, and do how other commuters feel about the parking issue on our campus?

Although the phenomenon of commuters at the University of Akron is not new, the number of commuting students has risen dramatically over the last few years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, more than ever, college students are choosing to live at home instead of on campus and do a hybrid of online learning and coming to campus a few days a week.

Despite the influx of students commuting to campus, the last time the University of

Akron built a new parking garage or deck was in 2010, when South Campus Parking Deck was introduced. How are new and upcoming commuters supposed to secure a parking spot when the University is not adjusting for them?

What do other commuters have to say about parking? Four commuters responded to a series of questions on parking in general for this voice of the student.

When asked whether he thinks there are enough parking spots on campus, Corey Teuton, a freshman at the University of Akron, stated, “No. Maybe there are number wise, but definitely not convenience-wise.

For him, convenience, not availability, is the core issue.

“It may seem like there are enough parking spots, but many of them aren’t close enough to where it is convenient to park,” Teuton said.

Sophomore Logan Buchanan felt similarly.

“Absolutely not,” said Buchanan. “In comparison to how big the campus is, there is not enough parking for each building or side of the campus.”

The convenience issue may relate to where newer students tend to park. A vast majority of freshman and sophomores seem attend classes at the north end of campus, which only has two commuter-only lots.

With the idea of convenience in mind, the students were asked if they believe parking is a problem for them personally.

“Yes, I think it is,” Teuton stated. “I commute here 3 days a week, and 2 out of the 3 days I come to campus, I have to do multiple laps around the lots before I can find a spot.”

Kenzie Faluski, a junior at the University of Akron, had a different experience.

“This semester I don’t have trouble finding parking,” she said. “I park at Polsky, which is a less crowded parking lot then the main parking lots.”

Rachel Kleiber had a slightly different answer to the same question. Much like Kenzie, Rachel also exclusively attends class at the Polsky Building, but her experience changes based on the time of day.

“Because I come to class at 8 a.m. at Polsky, I have no issues,” Rachel said. “However, if my first class of the day gets canceled and I don’t come up until 11 a.m., then I have trouble.”

The students interviewed believe there are not enough parking lots available for commuters near the higher volume areas of campus.

Due to this, commuters are forced to park in non-commuter lots, in spots that have meters, or at the STEM Highschool located on northern campus.

“I have received a ticket before for parking in one of the parking spots with a meter,” Logan Buchanan said. “I tried to fight the ticket, but ultimately had to pay it.”

Director of Parking and Transportation Services, Jared Coleman offered insight into how parking views the 5,341 commuter-only spots that serve the approximately 12,300 commuters.

“It’s not just the number of commuter-only spots you have to look at, but also the all-permit lots and garages,” Coleman stated.

“We only have a handful of parking areas that are specially reserved for residents, so there are more then 5,000 available spots for commuters to park at.”

Coleman also spoke to efforts to ensure convenient parking for commuters. He explained that all-permit lots located where many students have classes are being used heavily by commuting students.

“For example, the North Parking Deck, which is located next to where a lot of students attend classes, is an allpermit lot,” said Coleman. “Even though it’s not designated for commuters only, I would say at least three fifths of the spots are taken up by commuters.”

Students had criticisms of the current parking landscape at The University of Akron, but one had an idea for a possible solution.

“Build another parking deck that is closer to the central area of campus,” Rachel Kleiber suggested. “Maybe get rid of the small lot by Olin Hall and build a deck there.”

Whether it’s the number of spots or the convenience of available parking, the students interviewed all reported some level of parking challenges. Our commuters agree that convenience is the top problem, and a vast majority of the parking lots with open spaces are not centrally located.

Students are looking to the University of Akron to continue to find ways to improve their parking experience, making it easier and more convenient for them to take their classes in person again.