Becoming a commuter student and a car owner this year, parking has become more of a prominent thought in my mind. You would think with the amount of residential houses right next to Hamline, there would be enough parking. Homeowners or renters should just park in their driveways, right? However, a problem arises when four to six college students are all living in a home meant to only have two vehicles. They are then forced to park in the street. Now, this doesn’t sound like the most awful thing in the world. Just park in front of your house, right? Wrong.

Being a renter near campus means you are against every other commuter student, visitor and neighbor. In our neighborhood, it can be a frightening thought to have to park your vehicle several blocks away from your destination at night. I personally would not feel safe walking alone. Safety and Security agrees that because of the unique location Hamline is in, “parking is a very important issue,” as quoted on their Parking Policy webpage. Saying it’s an important issue and acting on it are two very different things. There is simply not enough parking at Hamline, and certainly not enough for commuter students.

A parking permit for the year costs $199. For a college student, facing inevitable debt and loans, this is a lot. A parking permit is almost half a month’s rent; this is grocery money, this is gas money. Say you gather the nearly $200 to pay for your parking permit, you drive into your designated lot, ready to park, but there might be no parking spots. Repeated over and over again on the Parking Policy page, permit owners are reminded that “a permit does not guarantee you a parking space.”

It blows my mind that they would make students, of all people, pay without the guarantee of a parking spot. I wonder how much money they make each year from people who don’t consistently get a parking spot. I wonder how many Hamline students have to walk blocks to get to their class because they had to park farther away. Why don’t we have more parking spaces or speciality lots? A commuter student lot would be a wonderful addition.

I’d love to see the Anderson Center underground parking lot allow commuter student parking. Visitor parking is in the Anderson Center currently, and I’m sure it could stay there. Commuter and visitor parking could coexist happily together underneath Anderson. Visitor parking is waived simply by checking in with the front desk. I suggest commuter student parking be at a hefty discount. Hamline could easily be making extra income by charging visitors a fee for parking in their ramp. By this logic, they could afford the extra commuter income, at whatever cost that ends up to be.

About 550 first-years enrolled this year, which is one of the largest-ever first-year classes. Parking is bound to become a scathing issue. While many first-years probably didn’t bring cars, next year we will see an increase. Especially if the trend continues and the class of 2021 is just as large, or larger. Commuter students will not only be fighting other commuters, visitors and neighbors for spots, but also their very own Piper peers.