Monmouth University students, specifically commuters, are worried about the lack of parking available in commuter lots as of late—namely, the Northwest Lot behind the Plangere Center for Communication. Many students have expressed their frustration, claiming that the lack of parking affects multiple aspects of their commute to school.
Lauren Bevacqua is a senior English major who commutes to Monmouth from the Bluffs. Though a transfer student, she has noticed the influx of cars flooding the parking lot. She explained, “Every parking lot on the academic side of campus has been worse now than last year at Monmouth. I have never seen each parking lot so full. It always looks like there are events going on.”
Bevacqua described the effect this phenomenon has had on students. She said, “The parking lots are to the point where students are late for class or may have to give up and not even go to class. Monmouth is a huge commuter school, and I completely expect that the lot is going to be packed. However, each row should not be this full. It’s extremely annoying and frustrating to have to arrive on campus almost a half hour before class even starts just to get a spot.”
Bevacqua is not the only student to have noticed the unfavorable parking situation. Another English student, who wished to remain anonymous, recounted an instance when the parking caused them to have to park in the main lot farther from Plangere. The student elaborated, “Yesterday (Wednesday, Feb. 28), at around 11:30 a.m., I went to park in the lot by the football field and found all the spots were taken. I then had to wait a few minutes to even leave the lot since other cars were also leaving. I moved to the main lot and couldn’t find any close parking—I had to park towards the back across from the bowling alley. It’s frustrating trying to find parking since it makes me late for classes and work. I need an additional fifteen minutes to find parking, and it shouldn’t have to take that long.”
This student is not the only one who has had to park in the main lot opposed to the Northwest Lot behind Plangere, despite the latter being the closer and more convenient option. Riya Ajmera, a chemistry student, has chosen to continuously park in the main lot to avoid the congestion in the Northwest Lot. “Trying to find a parking lot has always been a frustrating task that for the past year I’ve decided to park all the way in the back of the commuter lot in front of the OceanFirst Bank Center to avoid the hassle,” she said. “With my classes in Plangere, it’s a long walk that definitely makes me late to class constantly, but it avoids the tasking search of parking in a tight space.”
Moreover, Ajmera cited the struggle sometimes present when it comes to leaving the lot due to the number of cars present. She said, “The congestion of the number of cars in an area also makes it difficult to leave the parking lot, especially the exit near Plangere where I’ve gotten into an accident in the past. In order to avoid that traffic, I willingly leave from a different exit and wait for the busy hours to pass for my safey.”
Nate Cruz is a senior communication student who commutes to campus and additionally has all of his classes in Plangere. “I have difficulty parking every single day,” he explained. “There used to be tons of designated spots for commuters to park, and now it feels like we have to search the parking lot for spots as they accept new students but won’t add more parking.”
“The Outlook” reached out to the Traffic Office and the Monmouth University Police Department on two occassion and received no response. Lack of information about the parking situation leaves space for students to fill in the gap with their own explanations.
“What I think is happening is the people who live on the residential side are driving,” surmised Bevacqua. “The entire point of the underneath pass is for students to get to campus safely. I believe that Monmouth must do something about this because the parking is out of control.”
The anonymous English student agreed, “The University should be stricter on parking and get rid of cars that do not have their commuting parking tags. Something needs to change; it’s getting a little ridiculous at this point.”
Megan Kelly, a senior communication student, has most of her classes held in Plangere and has also been affected by the Northwest Lot. She explained how she has had to park in the back of the main lot multiple times due to no spots being available. “In my opinion, those who live on campus should not be driving a walkable distance and take parking spots away from commuters.”
Cruz made a similar observation. “So many of the spots are taken by resident students who drive across the street to the commuter lots and don’t even get ticketed by campus police. They (residents) take all of the designated parking away from those of us who need to drive from homes to campus.”
“The parking has always been a difficult situation, and I don’t understand why for such a small school,” concluded Kelly.
