| They Care About Parking a-Lots
February 27, 2012: They Care About Parking a-Lots
As many colleges and universities find out this time a year, students' primary concern at most campuses is parking. If your institution participates in the Noel-Levitz survey of student satisfaction, then you are either failing your students in providing adequate parking or students are ecstatic about the availability of parking spot
Also, you probably have noticed that search engines such as MSN or AOL like to have pithy lists of "best colleges for ___." They tend to share with us completely subjective lists such as "Top Party Schools," "Best College Food," or "Top College Mascots." How soon is it before we have "The Best College Parking Lots?" I think I will beat them to the punch:
Top Five College Parking Lots:
5) Hollins Top Deck Lot, Acquited Governors University (AGU), Chicago, Illinois: This 2000 occupancy parking lot looks high over the Chicago skyline at the Acquited Governors University, providing scenic views for students skipping their Public Policy classes as well as for the alumni who come back every fall to tailgate for the school's debate competitions. Since the entrance to the top deck parking lot, which sits above the general education faculty and classrooms, comes via a three-mile long tunnel rising from the Dan Ryan Expresseway, an added benefit is that students, faculty and administrators don't have to worry about running into any of the homeless people on the streets below offering to clean their windshields for spare change.
4) Poultier Parking Lots A-M, Flatlands University, Mumford, Kansas: Since Flatlands University is aptly named, the University has never had problems adding parking lots as its enrollment has increased over the last decade. All of the University's land was bequeathed to them by farmer William J. Poultier, one of Kansas's largest land owners when alive, and so the University has been able to promise its students a parking spot for each of them, as well as for any family member who drives to campus separately. Every March, students flock to Poultier Lot K for a midnight gathering, because rumor has it that Lot K was built over a Native American burial ground with local legend saying that the spirits of the dead will rise and show their anger on the Spring equinox. Even though this has yet to occur in the university's long 18-year history, that doesn't stop the students from renaming the lot as Poltergiest Parking Lot K every spring.
3) Weymouth Stadium Lots Alpha - Omega, Southeastern Georgia University (SGU), Bo, Georgia: As Southeastern Georgia University lobbies harder and harder to join the Southeastern Conference, the more and more it puts into the football complex. And they don't shortchange on the parking lots. Thanks to an elaborate system of arrows, robotic traffic pylons, and moving ramps, fans can get in and out of the SGU parking lot in record time. The last car pulling into a SGU football game at 1:00 kickoff time can be guaranteed to be parked with the driver at the stadium gates by 1:03, barely missing the National Anthem. Heck, I think some of my friends are still waiting to get into the parking lot at the WVU/Pitt football game last November. Exiting the parking lot after the game is a surreal experience, as one doesn't hear a single car horn.
2) Kennedy Restricted Lot, College of Boston University (CBU), Boston, Massachusetts: Many years ago, administrators at CBU recognized that they had no capacity to model inner-city college parking issues like Acquited Governors University in Chicago. As a result, they came up with a legacy parking scheme. The more generations of your family that went to CBU, the more you are guaranteed a spot. Think Green Bay Packers football tickets, but for a parking spot, a much more coveted item. So, the Kennedy Restricted Lot can only park 94 cars, but it is treated with incredble veneration. In-coming freshmen, even without a legacy, write their names on the outer wall that separates Kennedy from the rest of the campus. The University estimates that 700 new names are added to the wall every year, although it is unclear whether they are counting the "Kilroys" and "Pink Floyds" added every year. For the record, the longest legacy, the Arbuckles, 11 generations, guarantees the spot closest to the walkway to the Chemistry building.
1) Gator TailGator Lot, Swamp University, New Orleans, Louisiana: Five years ago, Swamp administrators polled every student and alum asking them what they most wanted out of their parking lots. Proximity to classrooms? No. Proximity to the library? Heck, no. Proximity to the football stadum? Well, duh. But there was a catch. They wanted grills--gas grills, 3-5 rack gas grills, stainless steel grills, reliable quartz ignition-starting grills. And so the university signed an agreement with Beefeater, maker of some of the finest gas grills in the world, and by the 2009 football season every one of the 9116 parking spots was outfitted with a gas grill. A meter on the grill allows the drivers to pay the university for the gas used, so tailgaters only need to bring food to enjoy the carnival atmosphere before the Swamp Gators take on their rivals in the Bayou Bottom Conference. So, what's the cost for a parking spot, you ask? $900 a game, or $7200 for the season. For the record, Gator football seats only run, at most, $195 a game. Yet, the parking lot is sold out every game. Why does it work with such an expensive charge, you ask? "Our football team kind of sucks," said Swamp's Director of Media Relations, Michael Neely. "In 2008, we barely had 4000 people at a game. Now we are guaranteed 12000 to 15000 every game, although only about 4000 people actually still go into the stadium to see the game."
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