Parking has been a large issue for both resident and commuter students. The main problems that students have are the availability of parking spots, the distance from parking lots and the safety concerns that come with it.

This year, residential parking lots have been completely filled, and students have resorted to parking in the commuter lots. Wendy Yankelitis, vice president of operations at Marywood University, has spoken about this growing concern.

Parking registration, which is free, allows the university to know how many spaces need to be allocated, Yankelitis said.

“So on paper, it shows that we have parking but you’re right when you start to circle the resident parking lot we don’t have enough spaces,” she said.

This issue began last year and campus safety was quick to add four spaces by the softball field to accommodate for the increase in residential students.

This year, the resident parking lots have expanded into the Athletic Center with 34 spots designated for residential students – 20 spots facing the highway and 14 facing the tennis courts. Chief of Campus Safety Michael Pasqualicchio adds, “We are only going off numbers provided by students registered so it’s important students get registered”

The distance between parking lots for many residential students has also been an issue. The issue isn’t prevalent for students living in Madonna and Loughran Hall but it is a farther walk for students who live across campus in Regina Hall. The number of students living in Regina Hall has increased greatly this year and campus safety is looking into more accessible parking for these students.

“We’re looking at the PAC lot to see if we can do a similar thing like we did in the Athletic Center,” Yankelitis said. “We just don’t know if there’s that many spots open.”

Another issue has been the safety concerns of walking from the parking lots to the dorms. Marywood got rid of most of the blue light emergency buttons around campus last year and has moved to an app called Omnilert in case of emergencies.

“It opens a line of communication to campus safety and it provides your location so if there is an emergency and you can’t call us, it acts as a panic button and sends us your exact location.”

Campus Safety also offers 24-hour security escorts. Pasqualicchio adds, “If there is a legitimate safety concern, we’re not going to question it. If you call us and say ‘I don’t feel safe, can you give me a ride from this parking lot to my dorm?’ we’re not going to question it.”

If enrollment rates begin to increase, Pasqualicchio and Yankelitis would be more than OK with adjusting parking distribution.

If you haven’t registered yet, visit the maintenance building or apply online for your parking pass.

Contact the writer: [email protected]