A Seton Hall student reportedly found a golf cart sitting in a parking spot in the Xavier Hall parking lot, upsetting many commuter students about the price they pay for parking permits.
[caption id="attachment_24195" align="aligncenter" width="838"]
Photo courtesy of Edward Sullivan[/caption]
Edward Sullivan, a senior political science major, noticed one day that a SHU golf cart was sitting in a parking spot under Xavier Hall. He was driving his car in the parking corridor under Xavier Hall looking for a spot. Sullivan said he then saw the golf cart parked in a “prime spot,” just about 10 feet away from the stairs under Xavier’s front entrance. “Plainly, it shouldn’t be there,” Sullivan said.
Many students said they feel as if parking is not guaranteed and to see a golf cart in a spot that could be theirs leaves them at a “loss for words.” Joseph Zichelli, a senior political science major, said, “If the golf cart had a parking permit, then that’s fine, but assuming that one did not, it is bothersome that a spot (that is severely undersized) has been taken away from a student that paid for a permit. No sticker, no good.”
Sullivan shared similar thoughts. “All I could think about was how much I had paid for the parking sticker displayed on my window, how that cart didn’t have one and how likely it was that dozens of other students were going to swing by that spot that no one will get to park in it,” Sullivan said.
Students also said the parking prices are unreasonably high, especially considering no spot is guaranteed. Zichelli said he paid $177.62 for the fall semester, since he is graduating early. For a full-time commuter, the pass costs $327.42. ”I do not think the price is reasonable since there is no direct correlation to the service I am paying for,” Zichelli said. “I am literally paying for a spot that is not always guaranteed.”
SHU’s prices are not nearly as high as the New Jersey’s Institute of Technology (NJIT), however.
According to the NJIT Parking Rules and Regulations website, “Parking fees for each semester are $325 for full-time commuter students (12 or more credits), $182 for part-time commuter students (less than 12 credits) and $490 for all on-campus and greek village resident students each semester. These fees are not included in regular campus or class fees.”
However, compared to Seton Hall’s campus parking, NJIT offers more parking lots. South Orange’s campus only provides the main lot and the parking garage, whereas according to a campus map, NJIT has upwards of eight lots for students, visitors and faculty.
Ann Szipszky, the manager of Seton Hall’s parking services, explained the pricing of Seton Hall’s parking services. “Permit prices are not set by the Parking Services Office,” Szipszky said. “The Seton Hall administration sets the prices at the main campus in South Orange and Hackensack sets the parking prices at the IHS campus in Nutley. The cost is associated with maintenance of the parking lots and the deck.”
Sullivan said his problem with the parking is not as much related to price as it is to the principle of the service he is paying for.
“I don’t feel that the cost of a parking pass is too expensive,” Sullivan said. “Parking is expensive everywhere. It just really ticks me off when people abuse the parking that some of us pay for. Like when people park in our lot without a pass, or when they park something that is not a car in the spot in the lot.”
Zoey Dotson can be reached at zoey.dotson@student.shu.edu.
Comments
