Nothing is better than waking up on a Monday morning and heading to a early morning class, but what beats an early morning class is leaving your house early to fight for parking. Any commuter knows the feeling especially at Hofstra University where the parking situation adds even more time to your commute.
The parking spots are limited and the amount of students is only increasing. Students circle around for a long period of time waiting for a spot to free up just to be on time to class. On the side of the campus where classes take place Hofstra only allows one very small parking lot for commuter students and one larger parking lots for commuters and students who drive from their dorms to be closer to their classes. Then add in the number of faculty who also have to use those lots to park. It's extremely congested and makes coming to school even more stressful.
Hofstra, once a mostly commuter based school, has drastically changed over the last few years. The University, which once had many students from the island now includes many students nationwide from states such as California, Delaware and New Jersey. The focus on the students that come from farther away seems to have become what the University focuses on a majority of the time. Hofstra does have a commuter lounge for students traveling from all over the island and staff designated to certain needs of commuter students. They try to accommodate them as much as they can, but the area they are lacking is the parking available for students.
If it snows on campus plan on really not being able to find a spot. The University will plow piles of snow into important parking spots making it even more difficult to find a spot in bad weather. You'll have to drive to school even earlier to brave the snow on the roads, but also to brave the slushy and limited parking at school.
Not to mention students suffer from parking tickets and fines for parking in a place that's not a spot on campus because the lack of spots forces them too. When trying to be on time for class they will park wherever in order to make their class. That even means forcing them to park on residential streets because there is no other choice.
Students cry for more parking spots is becoming more and more frequent. They feel as if an expansion of parking would make their lives easier and spending a big part of their time looking for a parking spot is getting old. Each commuter would agree that the school spends money on updating the rest of the campus and works hard to keep the grounds looking pristine, but maybe it's time to spend money and time on a plan to better their parking.
So please Hofstra think about the commuters and even the students living on campus and do us a favor. We need more parking and the sooner the better.
