By Teagan Ortense —
NJCU has made the decision to expand our campus and although some people feel this is a great for the university, it has caused tons of problems in the parking lots for students and professors alike.
I have personally had to apologize many times for being late to class. Parking in the student’s Lot 3 is horrendous. There is never any place to park, even if you think you can see a possible spot, the parking authority shoos you away before you get to it. It has been done to me on more than one occasion.
I pay $103 per semester to park in that lot, and the least they could have done was charge less to park – but instead they raised the price by $3 per semester. Why am I wasting my money? There are never any spots to park in, and to top it off the shuttle busses are always late. You would think the parking is so horrible that NJCU would make up for it by giving something else to students to help them out.
On Wednesdays I have a class at 4 p.m. On numerous occasions I have been late to class, not by 5 or 10 minutes, but by 30 or 40 minutes, only because I was waiting for the bus. Sometimes, I am even locked out of my classes because I am so late.
Lately, I have just taken the shorter route by walking, which means lugging my heavy bag and books up the hill to the main campus. The buses are supposed to be a convenience for students who are carrying books and backpacks for classes, but I have seen more and more people each week walking and carrying large amounts of books and papers up the hill to the main campus.
I have been leaving my house an hour earlier for classes, and then getting to campus a half-hour to 45 minutes early and heading to class since I was a freshman. Somehow, this year I’ve managed to be late to all of my classes. It is beyond ridiculous.
More of the construction work should have been started during the summer sessions, when fewer students come to campus than in the academic year.
One solution to the current problem — which could easily fix many future problems for students — would be to build a parking deck under the new campus, like the main campus has. Rather than enhancing the experience of students and teachers, this expansion is making everything more difficult.