By ALIVIA RENTERIA
$170 is a lot of money, especially to a college student. That amount could buy you 274 single-serving cups of ramen. Or 22 packs of Marlboro Light Shorts, depending on what floats your boat. Putting that into perspective, $170 is a lot to pay for a parking pass that is essentially worthless as more than a swag addition for your sticker collection.
In my experience, the parking situation at this school is severely lacking in any sort of organization. It’s essentially a free-for-all; even with the parking pass in your back window, you still aren’t guaranteed a parking space. As someone with an off-campus job, it’s a pain getting home at 11 after working six hours just to circle the parking lot twice and feel all the hope I ever had in life be drained out of me as I pull out onto the road to find a gap between cars to park in.
It’s completely irresponsible for an organization such as Beloit College to allow such a flawed system to remain in place. The way things are arranged is unfair to students and faculty alike. Even professors, who do not have to pay for a parking pass, see the current parking situation as needing reform. When asked if he had experienced any issues, Kosta Hadavas had this to say: “It’s gotten, not terrible, but it’s gotten worse. There are fewer spots. Parking is a minor issue they need to address, it was never an issue before.”
As a means of resolving the issue, I’d like to suggest a system similar to the one employed by Carthage High School in Texas in which each parking space is assigned a number. Each student who buys a parking pass is given the opportunity to choose the spot that best suits them based on dorm location and other factors that may apply to their unique situation.
This, of course, only works on a first come, first served basis. While the change could limit the number of students able to park in their preferred area, it would also stop students from having to drive to another parking lot since theirs is full and blocking another student from a spot near their dorm. The school brought this whole mess upon themselves when they chose to sell more parking passes than they had available parking spaces. While it may be unfair to some students, basing the parking pass recipients in order of necessity would ensure those students who have off-campus obligations are able to go where they need to without having to walk half a mile back to their dorm.
Beloit students have a lot to say on this topic. William Brandhorst’27 said, “If you’re not someone that drives, you’re still affected. Anytime you try and get into a car with somebody, you have to become part of the parking spot hunting team. At no point that I have been in a parking situation have I been able to find a parking space faster than five minutes. It’s taken at least five, usually 10. The max has been 25 minutes. We timed it.”
Naomi Floren’28 called it “the biggest waste of money I ever spent.”
One student even mentioned, “It’s not worth it because all the spots would be full and I’d have to park on the street anyway. I’m always afraid my car will get hit because those roads are so narrow.”
In order to bring light to the inner workings of this situation, I contacted Eric Sharlow, the Beloit College Safety and Security Director (who is super cool and has great hair and no I’m not being paid to say this I swear). In our discussion, Sharlow explained that the number of parking passes distributed is dead even with the number of marked parking stalls on campus, being counted by a security officer before the start of the school year.
“It’s something we’re aware of, I don’t know if you’ve noticed but we’ve been doing more ticketing for unauthorized parking,” Sharlow said when questioned about the seeming lack of available parking spaces found on campus. “That’s one thing we’ve been looking into. We’ve been getting a lot of dissatisfaction in student surveys, and since 2022 we’ve been looking into different parking that could help others like assigned stalls, but that’s something that never came into fruition… We were thinking they may switch up how some stalls are striped, which may end up with some added or removed.”
The Safety and Security Director also voiced his own suggestion for a better parking system in which students are assigned a lot-specific parking pass. This would allow students access to parking in their specific lot without having to move to another for lack of room.
You can clearly see that this is an issue that many in the Beloit College community would like to see addressed. Maybe, if we keep bothering them about it, we could see some reform in the coming years.
Featured image: Alivia Renteria’29
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