Despite the flood of freshman, ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said his office has noticed no obvious spike in permits, issuing a steady number of 3,200 parking permits each academic year.
Though the university cannot give specific numbers on student enrollment until the 12th day of classes, the freshman class is estimated to be about 965 students.
For freshman Maci Smith, a graphic design major from Fort Worth, finding a parking space has been somewhat difficult.
“I probably leave campus once a day, and it takes me two to three minutes to find a spot,” she said. “Sometimes I end up having to park at Sikes or by the intramural fields.”
She suggested opening up faculty lots to ease the strain on students.
“There is a parking lot reserved for faculty only and it’s normally empty, so it would help if maybe that was open to students,” she said.
No area on campus generates more parking violations than others, Ellison said, though the Brown Library is an area of common confusion. This lot, for faculty and staff only, has irritated students and faculty alike when students park in the reserved spots.
ACU Police Lt. Randy Motz advised students to read the signs before entering and parking in a lot. This simple suggestion would eliminate future fines and hassle for both students and faculty, he said.
But most often, student spot-hunting woes are merely the result of poor planning.
“You should not expect to easily find a parking space if you arrive ten minutes before your class,” Ellison said.
Like many off-campus residents, senior history education major Hunter Harrison has answered the parking dilemma by simply not buying a parking permit.
“I don’t mind parking in the neighborhoods and walking a little farther for a class. It’s really just a boycott of giving ACU more money.”
However, Ellison strongly recommends all off-campus students purchase a permit to prepare for the unexpected whether or their own tardiness.
“It would be the economically wise choice to buy the $5 permit beforehand, steering clear of the $20 fine.”
Though it is regularly on the receiving end of flack and frustration, ACU parking is a much lower-cost and higher-convenience system in comparison to most schools, Ellison said. To avoid congestion, students can find vacancies along the Oliver Jackson Boulevard and area between Edwards Hall and the soccer field.
Motz and Ellison said on-campus residents should walk rather than drive.
“ACU does not have a parking problem as much as it has a walking problem,” Ellison said. “You have two options: either plan to walk a little farther or plan to leave a little earlier.”
The task of managing the parking nuisance has been reluctantly inherited by ACU Police, a job Ellison describes as “the bane of our existence.”
ACU Police are always evaluating the efficiency of the parking system. However, if student population continues to grow, Chief Ellison said the university will have to take a hard look at parking allotments.
“Campus grounds have no room but to add outlying lots, which have been the areas students are currently avoiding,” he said.
Though ACU campus offers enough available spaces to satisfy current student numbers, Ellison said the university recognizes the irritations.
“We ask students to be patient and to be flexible. It is not a revenue game nor overzealous enforcement. Parking regulation is a necessary evil we have to take to generate compliance and guarantee safety.”
Student permits sold each year: About 3,200
Faculty and staff spaces: 504
Student-only parking spaces: 3,309
All permit parking spaces: 673
Handicapped spaces: 118
Visitor Spaces: 40
