Although students continue to state parking availability is limited and inconvenient, parking management officials at Dixie State University said there is adequate parking for all students.
According to the parking map on parking.dixie.edu there are 14 designated student parking lots and streets at DSU. Additionally, there are four economy parking lots and students can park on 700 East, 600 South, 900 East near the baseball fields and on 1000 East.
Valerie O’Rourke, adminstrative assistant and parking manager, said: “There are enough stalls to cover everybody because even if we sell out permits, not everybody is on campus at the same time. Because of our daily rounds, we know there are spots available.”
The only time it would be difficult to find a parking spot, O’Rourke said, is when there is a midday event, which doesn’t happen very often, and in the morning at about 9 a.m. when a majority of students are in classes.
Sherri Jessop, a sophomore nursing major from Hilldale, said she arrives at school at about 10 a.m. and parking availability is not good.
“Sometimes I drive around three times just to find a place,” Jessop said. “I usually park out by the Smith Building up on the north side, but sometimes I try to park behind the Hazy [Building].”
Jessop said fall semester is the worst time to find parking because the lots are nearly always full because fall semester has an increase in the number of students coming to campus, which is less of a problem in spring semester because some students do not continue after fall.
“Parking is not as helpful I think because any of the parking spots are always so far away from any classrooms you have to get to,” said Ashton Price, a junior communication major from Winterset, Iowa. “You have to park so far away and still walk in.”
Price said she didn’t buy a parking permit because the price of the permit doesn’t seem to be worth the time it takes to park and then walk to class.
Josh Thayn, event services and risk management director, said he constantly walks around DSU, and it takes him about 10 minutes to walk from one end of the campus to the other.
O’Rourke said the reason students have a problem with parking is because they don’t want to walk far to class or are already in a rush and don’t have the time to walk to class and get there on time and would like a closer space.
The best way for students to get the parking spots closest to the entrance is to manage their time better and make sure they are getting to school early. This will give them time to get better parking spots and not be late to class if they have to walk across campus, Thayn said.
There are plans to add three multi-level parking garages within the next 15 years. Those parking garages would cost about $4 million each because the cost per parking space is from $15,000 to $20,000 depending on construction costs. A single parking garage would depend on the growth and expansion DSU experiences over the next few years, Thayn said.
Students can make suggestions on how to improve the campus with Event Services and Risk Management at their office located in the Smith Building. Students can also avoid issues with finding parking by arriving at school at least 20 minutes before class and planning where to park ahead of time using the parking lot map available at parking.dixie.edu.