Although Kennesaw State reached historic enrollment numbers in 2023, no apparent efforts are being made by the university to accommodate the undisputable need for increased parking available to the influx of students.
As the third largest university in the state of Georgia, KSU boasts a remarkable number of students enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs this year. The school says it is now home to over 45,000 students marking over a 4% increase from 2022.
With a rapidly growing student population, it is not surprising that roads surrounding campus experience congestion during peak school hours. What is surprising is that there are only four parking decks available to commuting students and staff.
For students at KSU, purchasing a parking permit has become more like a hunting permit for finding an open parking space.
According to transportation data provided by KSU’s Media Relations Specialist Paul Floeckher, there are 16,461 parking spaces between the two campuses. This leaves over 28,000 students without a place to park on either campus.
This does not take into account the faculty, staff or administration who need a place to park each day. Four parking decks are simply not enough when considering all KSU commuters.
KSU is primarily a commuter campus, meaning a majority of students must travel to campus. In addition to a required university-wide parking fee, students who commute to campus by car are required to purchase semester-long or annual parking permits if they wish to park their car on campus.
Students can purchase a parking deck pass for a single semester for $95, or $190 for the entire school year. For students struggling with other financial obligations, these parking costs can be significant. With the potential price, many students may even choose to not get a pass at all and park on decks regardless, which may further exacerbate the parking problem for those who legitimately spent hundreds on a pass.
Students who chose to purchase a parking pass report that they are consistently late to class due to their designated parking deck being at capacity when they arrive on campus. This past week some students illegally parallel parked their cars in the West Parking Deck due to full capacity as documented by The Sentinel’s Editor-In-Chief Jackson Dembrosky.
“I usually get to campus half an hour before my classes start just to find parking at Central Deck and there have been times where I’ve spent way over 30 minutes looking for a spot,” second-year student Chloe Mang said.
To combat the limited parking decks, the school also offers ‘economy’ parking passes for students to purchase. According to transportation data provided by Floeckher, these lots provide an additional 1,950 parking options.
“When I was a freshman…I had to park at the East Economy Lot,” former KSU student, Conner Worley said. “The main issues for me were how far the lot was from my classes and having to cross five lanes of traffic every morning when kids were rushing to school, ignoring traffic lights and people crossing the road.”
Many students attending KSU have expressed frustrations online with the limited availability of parking offered at the university. Almost 1,500 students have signed an online petition encouraging the university to take action to resolve these issues.
It is important that KSU listens to student concerns and works to improve the delays and distress arising from the parking mayhem on campus. Obstacles stemming from parking mishaps are causing students to be marked tardy or absent for classes and can be distracting to their overall learning. The situation has not improved over the past year and will continue to escalate as the student population expands if it is not addressed.
