Parking Permit Question

<p>What are the popular class times to avoid?</p>

<p>Lucie, my D will be living in a complex that is considered walking distance and is located just beyond the edge of campus, albeit not the part of campus where most of her classes are located. From the door of her apartment building to the front of the building where most of her classes are, it’s roughly 1.5 miles. She could walk or ride a bike or take a shuttle. But if she wants a parking permit so she can drive (she’s had a car on campus since freshman year), that’s OK with me. There is off campus housing that is quite a bit further out, and there’s other housing that’s closer. There are students who live off-campus without a car. In fact, most students move off-campus after freshman year, even those who live in the honors dorms freshman year.</p>

<p>Thanks, beth’s mom. That’s very helpful!</p>

<p>It seems like most CC’ers talk about The Lofts and East Edge (?), which also seem to be the closest to campus (and quite posh!) when I try to search. I believe both offer furnished residences, as well, so I can see why they’d be popular. I’m not sure if students choose these options because they’re cheaper in the long run or just easier since they can stay put for a few years if they want to.</p>

<p>I realize there’s very limited housing on campus for upperclassmen, but the whole process seems rather overwhelming from long distance, especially since they’re apparently expected to put deposits down for the following year shortly after they arrive on campus as freshmen! I mean how do you know where you want to live the following year when you just got there? And do you have to weigh whether or not you’ll have a car (and parking permit) when making a decision?</p>

<p>There are plenty of properties within walking distance of campus if that’s an important factor in your decision. In fact, there are new properties scheduled to open this year. One is beside Jack’s on Hackberry and there are several just down Hackberry near 15th Street. Some students, however, still find they do need a car. We will have three students on campus with cars and parking permits, but we found walking and/or riding the shuttle during daylight hours worked well most of the time during the first year off campus.</p>

<p>I highly recommend scoping out the properties as early as possible in order to be familiar with your options before making a decision regarding off campus housing.</p>

<p>Lucie, like you, I didn’t know how my D could possibly know where she wanted to live off-campus sophomore year, let alone figure out with whom she would live, by October or November when some of the more popular properties were leasing up. She wanted to remain on campus for another year, and fortunately was able to do so. As a rising junior, she’s ready to be off campus and made her arrangements last fall. There are plenty of kids in her class (the vast majority, in fact) who moved off campus after freshman year and had no problems finding roommates or places to live. Many of those students were from OOS. It’s certainly do-able, you just need to know that’s what you want to do and take the steps to make it happen. I have friends who came down for Family Weekend or another game day weekend and visited a few properties with their kids while they were there. I know other kids who did all the legwork on their own and just called mom and dad to sign the lease guaranty. And even now there are off-campus apartments available for fall, so you don’t HAVE to find next year’s housing during your first semester. There are some newer, more popular properties that go quickly, but there are a lot of options (some probably more convenient and definitely cheaper than those popular properties) that don’t require you to plan that far ahead. </p>

<p>DS just registered for parking. He will be getting a new car in the fall. Will there be any problem changing the permit?</p>

<p>This is our first time buying a commuter parking pass… Just wondering if my son should have received a confirmation email after making his purchase. Did your student receive one?</p>

<p>@ProudBamaMama‌, my son got a confirmation through his crimson email.</p>

<p>Thanks @SECfam! I ended up going back in to see if he had done everything he needed to (and he hadn’t…must have rushed) and after completing the process, he did receive a confirmation email.</p>

<p>There’s not a good time to avoid the crowds in W Commuter. Business classes are all MW or TR so basically class after 8 and before 5 will be popular.</p>

<p>Thanks @feenotype – You swayed DS to get NE</p>

<p>My daughter took the West Commuter permit. She has 8:00 classes MWF so I’m hoping she’ll be ok. It just didn’t make sense to ride a shuttle from Northeast or Southwest at that hour of the morning. She also has evening classes M and W in one of the business buildings. We’ll see if it works out for her. I hope so.</p>

<p>My D’s boyfriend had a West Commuter permit last year and didn’t have a problem finding a space. I didn’t ask what time his classes were, though. I do know that he sometimes parked in the Ridgecrest garage, so if that’s no longer an option and no other spaces were added, I guess it’ll be even tighter this year.</p>

<p>I don’t think Ridgecrest has ever been commuter parking, so I’m not sure what your D’s boyfriend did. Maybe he borrowed a friend’s resident tag? W commuter parking is basically the surface lots west of the business school campus and maybe one level of the garage behind ten Hoor. </p>

<p>First floor of the Ridgecrest garage was definitely part of West commuter last year. After D’s BF mentioned it, I looked it up on the parking website because it struck me as odd, but sure enough, there it was, included in West Commuter. It appears to have been removed for this coming year, though.</p>

<p>TIMED PARKING - Does anyone know how long this is? 30 minutes?</p>

<p>Re: West commuter parking @‌ Ridgecrest
Read post #14 on page 1 of this thread. </p>

<p>Thanks SECfam - I missed that. Good news, although I can’t figure out why they removed it from the website. </p>

<p>It’s also not on the back of the West commuter parking pass D received,</p>

<p>I emailed parking yesterday and they confirmed that the West pass does include the 1st floor of Ridgecrest parking.</p>