Oswego State is known for many things: a street full of bars, Lake Ontario on the side of campus and a beautiful fall. While much of Oswego State’s reputation is good, we are known for a few negative aspects, one of which being our parking lots. Parking for commuters on campus is not an easy task to accomplish.
Oswego State enrolls about 8,000 undergraduates at a time, and only half of which live on campus, meaning approximately 4,000 students commute to school on a regular basis. There is not nearly enough parking for 700 people, let alone almost 4,000. Students are struggling to find parking spots close to campus at even 9 a.m. during the week. From 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., commuters are battling one another to park near the school. Drivers have to resort to temporary stalking as they follow; those walking to their already parked cars in an effort to get a parking spot before their class begins. This adds unnecessary stress at the beginning of a student’s already-stressful day of classes.
Parking on campus, as a general rule, is a difficult feat to accomplish; parking in a lot that is a close walk to your classes is nearly impossible. Students who have classes in Shineman Center or Marano Campus Center have to park behind Culkin Hall or in Lot 7 across Route 104 and are late to class because of the long walk to their building.
Oftentimes, students have to wake up much earlier than necessary to find a spot on campus. Students who live seven minutes away from campus find themselves waking up for a 9:35 or 9:10 class at 7 a.m. just to leave for their commute half an hour to 40 minutes before their class begins. This could provide time to study or have a coffee before classes, but this should not have to be the case. Waking up earlier than necessary just to find and fight for a parking spot can lead to a bad beginning of the day for some students.
Oswego State needs more and better parking options for its commuting students. There is a shortage of parking spots throughout the campus for commuting students, with a total of seven lots available, two of which are resident parking lots, and one of which is across 104 and meant for freshmen commuters. The remaining four lots have very few available parking spots. The lot behind Culkin appears larger, but at least half of the spots there are designated for employee parking. Oswego State should make more spots available to commuting students or create another solution. Stalking pedestrians for their parking spots is not only weird, but also should not be the most viable solution for students to park closer to campus.
Maria Pericozzi | The Oswegonian
