Kennesaw State students wait in traffic for a spot in the Central Deck. August 26th, 2025. Photo Credit: Tye Brown/The Sentinel
Parking has emerged as a major hurdle for students as the 2025-26 academic year kicks off.
Students at KSU have spent their first two weeks back on campus struggling with parking and overwhelming traffic. Online and in-person, conversations about hours spent circling parking decks and missing classes due to a lack of parking have become prevelant.
86% of Kennesaw State’s student body lives off campus and must pay upwards of $110 for a parking spot each semester. This purchase doesn’t guarantee parking, however. Students from KSU have posted online complaining about the parking, talking about the pricing of the parking pass, the difficulty of finding a spot and even missing classes due to lack of parking access. One video explained that a student had to miss class on the second day of school because there was no parking available, while another student wrote that they’re late for class every day due to parking issues, despite paying for a pass and looking for a parking spot for an hour.
The reason behind this issue is widely believed to be the record-breaking 10,000 freshmen accepted to KSU this year. Other possible causes include the destruction of a parking lot to build Summit 2, alleged oversold parking passes and expanded faculty parking.
Despite these issues, administration has yet to comment in any official capacity on the parking issue, though Fox 5 reports that KSU officials “determined the university’s current parking inventory is sufficient to support future growth in in-person enrollment over the next several years.”
KSU senior Grace Cauldill called the situation “God awful,” saying, “I have to show up at least an hour before my class or I won’t get a parking spot.”
Cauldill explained that the parking situation is noticeably worse than previous years.
“We’ve always had a parking problem, but I think letting in 10,000 freshmen in a commuter school made it 10 times worse,” she says.
When asked about potential solutions KSU administration could explore, Cauldill said, “Either give refunds on parking passes, stop admitting so many students, or just build parking like people have asked for for the last four years.”
Jace Freeman, sophomore and Student Government Association Chief Justice, offered another perspective.
Though the definitive reason for 10,000 students being accepted is unclear, Freeman said that increased numbers help “boost accreditation” for KSU, so overcrowding now could be a price to pay for improvements later on.
“They’re just trying to make sure that they can get as much government funding as possible so that they can put that money into areas they feel are necessary.”
When looking at potential fixes to the parking issue, Freeman explained that both short and long-term solutions may be difficult to implement.
“We want to be more optimistic in this situation, but we also have to be really realistic.”
Building new parking decks requires USG board approval, being in compliance with local zoning ordinances and additional funding. The university has never issued refunds for parking passes.
Accepting fewer freshmen in the future to prevent overcrowding is not necessarily up to just KSU administration, according to Freeman, who says “KSU can’t put a cap on the number of students because they have to adhere to USG rules and regulations.”
Instead of looking to administration to fix parking, Freeman suggests finding ways to work around the issue, like parking off campus or carpooling with other students.
“Just find as many solutions as you possibly can, because I don’t see it getting any better for a little bit,” said Freeman
While no clear solutions are being brought forward currently, Freeman says that the SGA continues to fight for more parking. “We have been advocating for parking for a little while. We understand that that is a prominent issue.”
Freeman also said that the videos posted online are being seen by administration. “Like all the TikTok videos on parking, the university does see that and they understand that it’s actually shining a negative light on the university.”
He said that voicing concern to KSU is something students could do to work towards an answer to this issue. “The more voices that are speaking out about parking, the higher the likelihood we’re going to get this fixed.”
