<p>Hello, I contacted the Parking Office a few days ago but not reply yet.</p>
<p>Does anyone know where a student can park with a student permit?</p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>Freshmen, sophomores and juniors are not eligible for parking permits. Are you talking about a senior living on campus who has a permit?</p>
<p>Even the seniors I know don’t really bother with them. Just pray for street parking and keep quarters in your car.</p>
<p>Parking info here:[Student</a> Permits: University Police - Northwestern University](<a href=“Evanston Parking: Transportation & Parking - Northwestern University”>Evanston Parking: Transportation & Parking - Northwestern University)</p>
<p>My son had a car sophomore-senior years, and parked on side streets slightly off the north end of campus. He didn’t get a permit.</p>
<p>Speaking as an NU undergrad wrapping up senior year:</p>
<p>There’s basically no reason to have a car in Evanston as an undergrad. You can get from one end of campus to the other in under 15 minutes walking, just trying to find parking would more than cancel out the time you saved driving.</p>
<p>Very few of my undergrad friends have cars in Evanston. A fair number of my graduate student friends do, but most of them live relatively far (i.e. multiple miles) away from campus.</p>
<p>Furthermore, parking permits for city lots and Northwestern lots are expensive and not well placed (given that NU is a walking campus). Street parking is possible, but feeding the meter or having to run out to move one’s car every three hours is stressful, not to mention that these aren’t any more conveniently located than the permit lots. Also, NU (and to a lesser extent Evanston) police at times seem to have nothing better to do than write traffic tickets. If you drive in Evanston, it’s almost an inevitability that you will get ticketed for parking at some point, and that cost adds up.</p>
<p>Bottom line: If you are living on campus, there is absolutely no need for a car; it is unnecessarily expensive to keep around, and doesn’t save you much time or stress. Unless you’re living way off campus (say, west of Ridge and/or south of Lake), the benefits of driving to school probably don’t outweigh the costs. Having a car does make carrying groceries home easier, but that’s about it.</p>
<p>If you really don’t want to walk, save your money and buy a nice bike instead.</p>
<p>I see where you’re coming from, but I don’t plan on driving to class… My new job is located in Chicago (not too far) but would require 2 buses and a lot of walking. </p>
<p>I think I am getting the Ryan Field parking permit ($25) since having a car will be mostly used for my job I can take a shuttle there.</p>
<p>jrpar, did he ever get a ticket? I thought we needed permits to park on Evanston residential streets?</p>
<p>I’m from Chicago, I have driven a lot in Evanston and parked on campus (after 4pm and on weekends only, of course).</p>
<p>Wildcat2016, he did get a few tickets senior year, but was more diligent in following parking rules sophomore and junior years and did not get tickets then (he parked up around Lincoln/Colfax just off Sheridan and on campus when he could soph/jr years). He was entitled to a permit from Evanston senior year since his name was on the lease that year, but never bothered to get one (I recommend getting one if you live off campus, the resident street permit isn’t all that expensive). My favorite ticket was the time there was a major snowstorm, his car was towed, and then the town towed his car BACK to the same spot where it had been. That was awfully nice but that event did come with a ticket. He used his car a lot all three years - not to drive to classes but otherwise all over the Chicago area.</p>
<p>Wildcat2016, you say that commuting to your job would require 2 buses. Have you looked at the Intercampus Shuttle route? It goes into downtown. It’s also really easy to commute downtown taking the El or the Metra and it’s way cheaper than a car. </p>
<p>If you really think you need a car, a Ryan Field permit is the way to go. Not sure they give those to freshmen though</p>
Student permits are limited I think to athletes and commuters (have to be a certain distance from campus). I didn’t find a need for a car my first two years. My third year I was regularly interning and the L was taking too much time so I brought my car to campus. I live off-campus (about 2 blocks from campus), though, so I was eligible for an Evanston permit.
For the Evanston permit for off-campus: Most of Evanston has parking regulations. It is $90 for a non-resident/year. You need proof of address to get a permit (so, this is more for living off-campus). This would allow parking on 2-3 streets near address with a few restrictions (snow-cleaning – you can subscribe to text notifications when they do this – and 2 days a month from April-November for street cleaning. When there is snow-cleaning, the garages are usually free, and when there is street-cleaning, it’s only for one side of the street at a time, so driver would just have to be cognizant of these days to ensure no ticket). There are some private, outdoor parking spaces that are $40-60/month, depending on location, and I think the garages are about $100-120/month.