It's a stereotype that college parking is terrible, but as a third-year college student, I'll give it to you straight...
It's the worst.
There are never enough spaces.
The majority of the students are usually commuters or at least have a car, a handful of parking garages and maybe one or two other parking lots are not going to cut it. In order to get a decent spot, you need to spend 30-45 minutes circling around which means having to get up and leave earlier for your classes.
Half of the parking garages are a walk from where your class actually is.
In the rare instance that you do find a good spot, nine times out of ten you still have a pretty decent walk around campus to get to your class. Sometimes you're forced to park on the other side of campus and take a shuttle or walk the long distance on top of the added time that it took to find said parking space.
"Trust me, professor, I'm not trying to be late to your class, there's just no parking."
Tardiness is frustrating. Walking into a class full of people in the middle of a lecture is no fun, but unfortunately, it can happen a lot. Even if you leave an adequate amount of time to park and walk to class if you have to spend time going garage to garage trying to find a place to park you're bound to be late. Don't even get me started on the days we sleep through our alarm and get out of the door in just enough time to make it only to find out... you guessed it, there are no parking spots.
RAIN IS YOUR ENEMY.
It seems to be a universal law in college towns that no one knows how to drive when it's raining. It's bad enough to have to walk to class in the rain, but with the added stress of limited parking and overly aggressive drivers trying to avoid getting wet, it's a nightmare.
Just wake up at the crack of dawn, IT'S THE ONLY WAY.
Overall, it seems the only way to beat the crazy drivers, the rain, the lack of spots, and the potential tardiness is to wake yourself up at five o'clock in the morning and claim whatever parking spot you want. The spot is more important than sleep, you can just take a nap in the car until your class starts.
Kidding, but do take into consideration the number of people taking classes at your school and do a few test runs of how much time is best to give yourself to find a parking spot and when to settle with walking a far distance. I believe in you. Go out and get those spots! ... Just save one for me.