We had someone tell us that parking is a nightmare for off-campus students to find when going to class. They recommended living close enough to walk or ride a bike to class. Is this true?
I haven’t heard this, although I have heard that the parking passes for off-campus students are for the lots on the edges of campus so walking is involved to get to all your classes. If you live near campus, it probably does make more sense to walk, bike or take the Crimson Ride if they shuttle to/from your apartment.
Ideally, walking or biking is better than driving, so for many families, it’s worth paying a little more for a residence closer to campus; however, most of the larger apartment complexes offer free shuttle services, so depending upon your student’s schedule, it may not be necessary to have a car regardless of the location.
As far as parking, I don’t think it’s an issue if you’re prepared to park in the lot you were assigned and leave yourself time to get from that lot to class.
The university is merciless when it comes to ticketing those parked where they should not be. As it was explained to us by the head of transportation at Bama Bound, they had to implement that punitive approach to get students to take parking rules seriously and to discourage students from bringing cars on campus unless absolutely necessary.
Some of the commuter lots get pretty full during the more popular class times. I think you’ll always be able to find a spot, but it might be in one of the perimeter lots instead of a lot close to the quad. If you have early classes you have a much better chance of finding a close-in spot. Otherwise, a lot depends on luck. My daughter parked in Commuter West for two years and I don’t think she ever had to go to the perimeter lots; she always managed to find a spot. That said, if you can live within walking or biking distance, or in a complex with a shuttle, you don’t have to worry about parking. You might have to worry more about rain, though.
MSEinAL: Some of the above posts have mentioned shuttles. SEVERAL of the apartment complexes offer free shuttles to/from campus. My son’s complex offered a Crimson Ride (the UA bus service) shuttle and he used it almost daily. It left the complex every 30 minutes all day long and ran until 6 PM; this is very similar to the shuttles offered by many complexes. He does drive over occasionally (maybe once/week) and pays $5 for the day at the Ferguson Center parking deck.
They have also made changes to the shuttle program for next year, so we are all hoping it will be more reliable than it has been along with the late hours options.
And if a student thinks they will roll out of bed and just drive to class instead…still involves walking to class as none of the lots will be right next to their classrooms!