Parking ticket for attending campus tour

Parents Forum
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<p>Yes, GMU is a great school and parking issues are hardly unique to GMU. After struggling with parking at over 20 college visits for my two kids, I found GMU to be one of the easier schools to figure out about parking.</p>

<p>But I sympathize with the OP. My DD and I were visiting UNC Wilmington on a stinking hot day in August and fuming about parking. I swore on a stack of Bibles I would never let my DD go to a school with such terrible parking. But we figured we would go on the tour anyway. It was my DD’s number one choice at that time. Well, I fell in love with the place during the tour (despite the hot day). Unfortunately my DD knocked it off her list because she didn’t like the way the kids dressed!!! Oh well!</p>

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<p>hahahahaha</p>

<p>This goes back to a core college application premise: with over 2000 4 years colleges in the country propsective students must use non-rational sorting criteria to winnow The List down to a manageable number.</p>

<p>That can be a variety of things, from the the quality of the orientation to the lack of talent of the college tour guide to (in my kid’s case) a lack of posters on campus.</p>

<p>Now we can to these sorting criteria “Bad Parking Arrangements.”</p>

<p>Without these non-rational criteria we would never get The List down to size :-)</p>

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<p>I’ll probably regret jumping into the fray, but here goes . . .</p>

<p>I have worked at 4 public universities (not to mention having been a student at several others, including a top-ten private) and parking has been a major issue at all except one public. There is a shortage of spaces (at my current university I have to arrive at least an hour before working hours begin in order to park “in the same county”), the fees to park are generally very high (I’ve heard of universities where the yearly fee approaches $1000 for faculty/staff), and, as a result, parking enforcement is draconian. Students, in particular, are notorious scofflaws when it comes to parking so the parking “nazis” (I hope I don’t offend by using that term, but that’s what they’ve been called at most places I’ve worked or gone to school) are quick to ticket.</p>

<p>It is unfortunate that prospective students and other visitors get caught up in this mess, but it’s hard for schools to prevent. Most schools do provide good info on their web sites and as has been discussed on this thread, it’s wise to follow their directions. Schools that have lots for admissions or provide parking permits in advance are great, but at many schools this is just not possible. There are just no spaces available. And parking often is run by another branch of the university, or, increasingly, it is privatized so some company is managing it for the university. As a result, university departments have no control or influence. At my school, for example, we were unable to get a parking space for the author of our freshman read last year when he was addressing our entire freshman class. We were outraged! But there was nothing we could do except arrange to meet him off campus and drive him to campus ourselves. </p>

<p>As for the harsh verbiage on the OP’s ticket . . . that’s standard at universities. Remember, the ticket writer doesn’t know who you are . . . that you’re a prospective student and we should be nice to you. It was more likely that you were a student who didn’t buy a parking permit as required and is trying to park for free.</p>

<p>And for the staff member in Admissions who wasn’t sympathetic . . . although if that person was working for me, I’d expect a different attitude (believe me, everyone in my office is VERY sympathetic when parents complain about parking problems on our campus - we know it sucks!) some people who have to deal with parking issues themselves (or with visitors) on a daily basis, can get cranky about the whole thing. Try to understand.</p>

<p>I understand why the OP is upset but I wouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. Parking is a pain pretty much everywhere and if the OP’s S like GMU, give it chance. It’s a good school (getting much better all the time).</p>

<p>You can appeal the ticket (I’d bet they’ll cancel it) but if you think that you’ll never go back to GMU, you can toss it. Unless the State of Virginia treats university parking tickets differently than the states I know, you’ll never hear from them about that ticket. </p>

<p>Sorry you had a bad experience, but as you go through the college experience (from visits, to orientation, to attendance) be prepared for more parking angst, pretty much wherever your kid ends up.</p>

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<p>Towson also has a serious parking problem. I suspect that finding a visitor’s parking spot is likely to be a problem at other schools as well. You all may disagree, but I told my son based on what happened yesterday, that he will not get a car to college because I fear getting many parking tickets because he can’t find an acceptable place to park. I heard there are some students at Towson getting approx. $3,000. a year in parking tickets. </p>

<p>I am also surprised that no one at the info. session/admissions office told me to move our car. It is obvious that most students are accompanied by interested parents. Moreover, it is obvious that I am not the first person to get this ticket. If my son had followed the advice of admissions to move our car, the ticket was already placed on our car (see the time of the ticket), and he would have missed the info. session. </p>

<p>I am trying to calm down so that I can write a rational, unemotional appeal tonight.</p>

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<p>In response, I wonder why we did not see signs saying “visitors” parking. Furthermore, there was tons of available parking yesterday as it is the summer and the thousands of students are gone. I just could not find a sign that said “visitors” parking. I also wonder is it so terrible to provide “visitors” parking in addition to the lot outlined on the e-mail that was so hard to find? I don’t know the ins and outs of GMU parking.</p>

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<p>I thought about NOT posting my experience yesterday at GMU because it is just not a nice thing to complain about a university. However, I gave the admissions staff ample time to try to resolve my complaint yesterday before leaving. I felt if one of the 3 different people I spoke to in the admissions office had simply called parking, got the parking ticket removed, apologized and been caring towards my dismay, then I would not have the need to vent here.</p>

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<p>I appreciated the schools that had excellent directions and signage for parking. I’m also very good about using websites and printing maps and information. But at two of the schools we visited that didn’t do much good: at one the entrance to the school from the directions they provided didn’t connect through to the parking lot where you were supposed to park unless you had a card that allowed an (unmanned) gate to raise, and at another the nice parking map had clearly been drawn before some major construction projects had been initiated, and the visitor parking did not match up with what was on paper. Both were frustrating, but in each case we luckily had the phone number for admissions on the pack of paper, and a call quickly elicited the correct information. </p>

<p>We visited one other school where the nice guard at the front told us "It’s easy: go down there, turn left at the end, drive past… and on about four more steps. It wasn’t easy. It was also a school that didn’t have the map on-line, and the guard didn’t have one either. (Admissions did, but you had to get there first.) I can laugh now.</p>

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<p>MD-your post and the thread was forwarded to my attention by a concerned person. I apologize for your experience and certainly don’t want your view of Mason impacted by a parking citation. While there are websites and directions to the visitor parking, and there are signs off each entrance to the campus directing visitors to the parking decks-and signs at each lot entrance with information about permits being required, things can happen with 32,000 students, 5500 employees, and over 2 million visitors per year. Parking has made arrangements with Admissions so visitors to Admissions can be issued validations so they don’t have to pay for the parking in the garage(Mason Pond Deck). While summer might not be as busy, we still have thousands in class as well as thousands of others on campus for various programs, so parking does have to be enforced and as many have said, the enforcement officer has no idea with thousands of cars on campus each day as to whom a vehicle may belong to and why they are there(as another pointed out-most colleges have many students who do park illegally and enforcment is the only way to control and provide parking for those who do follow the rules and purchase a permit). Side note-most college parking deparmtents are self-funded and do not receive tuition funds or even state funds-so permit revenue is needed to pay for millions in expenses. The $75 citation price is a disincentive to those who choose to not buy a permit(currently $225 annually for surface lots).</p>

<p>We do have an appeals process though to review legitimate concerns about a citation. For most visitors, first time citations are either reduced to a warning or downgraded to the visitor parking fee they would have paid had they parked in the garage. </p>

<p>For those who commented about ignoring citations-at Mason and for most public institutions nationwide, parking citations are considered debt to a state agency and one can go to collections, so best not to ignore it-and most can obtain DMV info from any state(as I found out years ago when I went to college).</p>

<p>MD-if you wouldn’t mind, can you email me your citation number and I can personally review it-and if confirmed with Admissions can handle the citation as we do in many instances. I do need the citation number though to look it up in our database. You can reach me at <a href=“mailto:jcantor1@gmu.edu”>jcantor1@gmu.edu</a></p>

<p>Again sorry for the frustration. We’re always looking at ways to improve (signage included) but do try and provide as much info as needed and work with hundreds and thousands of events and organizations campus wide and while not everything is perfect, we do want to take feedback and address concerns where we can. </p>

<p>Josh Cantor
Director, Parking & Transportation
George Mason University
<a href=“mailto:jcantor1@gmu.edu”>jcantor1@gmu.edu</a></p>

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<p>mdcissp - WOW!!! I guess you have been heard!</p>

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<p>Very Nice response. That is the way you handle a concern.</p>

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<p>Now - there’s some personal attention (the post above from MasonParking)! I think that speaks quite well for the Uni and should more than balance out the ticket and the one snarky admin. How many colleges would have responded like this?</p>

<p>

Firstly, it’s best to avoid a car for at least the first year at many campuses. They usually don’t actually need a car then and it’s just a liability as far as parking fees and potential vandalism and sometimes the car just sits there unused in the lot most of the year. Often there are campus shuttles, free/cheap city buses for students, etc. After the first year (or semester) he’ll have a better idea of the utility of a car there and whether it’s worth having it.</p>

<p>Secondly, if he has a car then make sure you make it very clear up front that any parking or other tickets are on HIS dime - not yours. This does wonders for assuring they don’t break the parking rules.</p>

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<p>good point about the transportation options-always good to explore what each school has to offer for getting around without a car. Many schools restrict parking options for first year students-or even don’t allow freshmen to have cars. At Mason we make freshmen residents park in a farther out lot and have shuttle service every 20 minutes back to the dorms. We have shuttles to our other campuses and the nearby Metro. Most schools have either their own buses or have arrangements with local transit agencies so students can ride for free or at a reduced fee. Certainly schools in support of their sustainability efforts and that are faced with parking challenges based on construction issues depend on a transportation system to provide options for students. Once you have decided on a school-most have plenty of information at orientation sessions about all the parking and transportation options. I speak at all our orientations and am part of a Q&A with parents-and from these I can say how valuable it is to discuss these with your children so they are well informed when they arrive-makes life so much easier as there is certainly enough to worry about at college.</p>

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<p>That’s how you turn around a PR issue–the right way, I mean.</p>

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<p>What a great response from GMU! I don’t believe the admissions office can just call the parking department in a university of that size and get a ticket removed. They could be really sympathetic about it, though, and help more than they did.</p>

<p>To the OP, since you seem to be looking in the DC area, have you considered U Maryland? I think they have a good accounting program. But watch the parking – seriously, I got a ticket there taking my daughter to swim once. I just didn’t read the sign right but they allow you one appeal so I didn’t have to pay the $70!</p>

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<p>There are also many events that take place on campus at the Patriot Center. This leads to a higher degree of abuse and a greater need to address violations.>></p>

<p>GMU is also used by local high schools when running their sports camps, local sports leagues use the fields, etc, etc. The campus chapel is widely used by the community; the Patriot Center is the largest place around for events such as the circus, etc. It sees a lot of community use and parking is strictly enforced as a result. Otherwise, students and staff have no where to park. There are parking garages with visitor parking.</p>

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<p>To MasonParking and concerned parent kind enough to bring this to Mr. Cantor’s attention:</p>

<p>First, I want to express my sincere appreciation to both Mr. Cantor of GMU Parking and to the concerned parent kind enough to contact Mr. Cantor on my behalf. Thank you Mr. Cantor for conveying your support to resolve yesterday’s unfortunate parking ticket as well as explaining the parking situation in greater detail to this thread. I hope that this discussion will increase everyone’s awareness, both parents and university officials, of the need to provide reasonable visitors parking with good visitors signs as well as the need for university personnel to kindly resolve parking issues before parents leave the university. It is to everyone’s benefit for prospective students and parents to leave college tours with a good feeling about the university. I will e-mail Mr. Cantor tonight the details of yesterday’s parking problem. Again, I also want to express my appreciation to all of the wonderful parents here who were kind enough to show their support and good stories to help us all with parking at the universities we tour.</p>

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<p>I must say that I am very favorably impressed with Mr Cantor’s response.</p>

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<p>Thank you, MasonParking!! GMU is a great school! Maybe MDcissp’s son will re-consider becoming a member of the “Mason Nation”!</p>

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<p>I am reading this thread with great interest. It again shows that many schools are watching CC. Kudos to the parking director of General Motor University for taking time out to address this issue. </p>

<p>Since this ticket issue seems to have a good ending, I would like to offer my view of the inccident. We visited many colleges with our two kids and we never had any problem finding parking and/or any other issue with any of the schools. One reason is we do extensive research on the school including calling the parking department ahead of the time to confirm the location of visitor parking. Another thing we did was that we took the attitute that we are just one of many visitors to the school and they are there to help us. They have way too more applicants to select from, since we have not won the Nobel prize yet, so we better do our best to give them a good impression. Based on hundreds of reports of school visits on CC, I think most of the visits went o.k. without any problem.</p>

<p>BTW, I know this is George Mason University, I was just joking up there about general motor U.</p>

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<p>Of course, I don’t have data about the % of prospective students and parents who can’t find visitors’ parking at GMU. If it is greater than 2%, I would think the school does need to do something about it.</p>