by Jaylon Brunson

As a commuter student, there have been some issues regarding parking that I have noticed at GC. With such limited options, an expensive cost and lack of safety, GC really needs to improve the parking they have for students. 

The lack of parking options is the main issue. I have noticed a lot of students park on the side of the city streets leading to GC because there is not sufficient parking space for the students. This should never be the case for any private college, especially if the students have to pay a hefty $220 for a parking pass to park on campus. The cost is already bad enough – some students may not be able afford this on top of the tuition they already have to pay, but also, why do we have parking passes when we can never even park on campus? If this is going to be the case, at least make the parking passes more affordable or offer some sort of discount for students who are have good GPAs. 

On top of that, even if a student finds a parking space, the lots themselves are very poor. I spoke with GC staff, and they said that the roads could use a lot of work and that the spaces are not good for cars which are low to the ground. I also spoke with some of my peers, and they said that GC’s parking lots have a lot of holes which sometimes causes their car to be damaged. 

The next issue I would like to bring up is safety. As I mentioned, many students end up parking on the side of the streets by GC, and this is very unsafe for many reasons. There are many cars that drive by, and it is very difficult to see when the cars are coming. In addition, because these spaces are off-campus, GC security is not monitoring these streets. Cars could easily be broken to, and students who are going to their car or going to campus are at high risk of getting robbed or hurt. 

Solving these parking issues at GC would definitely improve students’ morale. GC should look into decreasing the cost of the parking passes as not only will this save students’ money, but it will also show that the college cares for student safety. I also think that GC should look into repaving the parking lots, or maybe even building a new area for parking so that students do not need to park on the streets by GC. If the campus actually had a proper parking space or deck, I think students would be okay with paying the current cost of the parking pass as they know that they are parking in a secure, well-lit space with around-the-clock security monitoring. 

I hope the college looks into tackling parking issues soon, as it could really improve the quality of the college as a whole.