New Year, New Problems

By: Quentin Winstine

Next fall, the University of Mississippi will welcome its largest incoming freshman class ever. To accommodate this increase, the administration informed current students that only freshman will be allowed to live in the dorms. This means that all upperclassmen will have to live off campus and commute to campus next year.

To help ease any problems that may come from this increase in commuters, the University Police Department is considering switching more lots from free parking to commuter only during peak hours of 7:30 am to 5:00 pm Monday through Friday. "More spots will be available by The Ford Center next year, since The Law School has moved," Linda Christian, Manager of Parking Services for UPD, says.

Christian also says that there are over 600 open spots at the South Lot parking lot that are not being used this semester that students should consider next year. Even though the South Lot is a bit out of the way, it is the most inexpensive tag option for students, $10 compared to $60 for the others, and includes bus transportation from the parking lot to campus every ten to fifteen minutes.

"I usually stay late so I'm going to get a Commuter tag again next year instead of a South Lot tag," Julie Gibson, a senior Social Work major, explained. This is a sentiment shared by many commuters who say they don't want to feel rushed to catch the bus to the South Lot to get back to their car.

According to Christian, UPD is considering raising fines on parking violations next year, but nothing is official yet. Currently, a first offense is a $15 fine, a second offense is $25, and anything after a second offense is $45. Any increase, Christian says, will be done so to discourage students on campus from taking parking spots from commuters and teachers.

For the current parking map, you can go here. For any more information about UPD, you can go here.