At the University, the phrase “I’ve been waitlisted” can only mean one thing — parking.

The University has spent millions of dollars on new parking decks in order to increase the amount of parking spaces on campus. There are now about 21,000 parking spaces on campus — of which 19,317 are for students — including those designated as scooters, motorcycles and disability spots.

Parking Service’s priority system limits the number of permits sold, which leaves some on waiting lists but also prevents traffic jams. Photo by: Jackie Reedy.

Students who do not receive permits are placed on a waiting list and are eligible for parking when a spot becomes available.

Don Walter, Parking Services manager, said the University prides itself on providing parking for such a large number of students. He emphasized  although there are waiting lists for some lots, there are readily available permits in East Campus lots.

“At other schools, people hunt for spaces,” Walter said. “We think we’re leading the pack.”

Louisiana State University has more than 23,000 parking spots, of which 18,500 are for students. But LSU’s 25,215 students do not have to hunt for spaces. There is no waiting list and the school even has extra spaces.

“We are able to accommodate everybody with what we have and still have a few thousand [spots] left over,” said Gary Graham, LSU director of parking.

Unlike the University, which has a constant demand for parking which led to the construction of two new decks last year, Graham said LSU does not need to expand parking to make room for more cars.

“It’s been pretty static over the last two years,” Graham said. “The resident areas can get a little tight, but other than that, we are able to accommodate everybody.”

The University of Florida, with a total of 19,440 on-campus spots, distributes 10,973 student parking decals among its 49,679 student population.

Ed Poppell, UF vice president of Business Affairs, said any large university is bound to face some kinds of parking problems.

However, he said the city of Gainesville has a very successful transit system with over 9 million passengers per year.

“Parking is one of the biggest problems on most any large university campus,” Poppell said. “On our campus we say, ‘We have enough spaces, but just not in the right places.’”

The saying is a result of one of UF’s initiatives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and congestion on campus by enforcing certain regulations, such as the university’s “auto-free interior campus,” where only buses and service vehicles are allowed on the interior of campus from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

“We have significant policies on our campus limiting what students can do and where they can park,” Poppell said. “We have also continuously increased the price of our decals, encouraging people to find alternative means of transportation.”

At the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the parking is highly selective. With 16,000 total parking spaces on campus, the school allows only 3,900 of its 28,136 students to park on campus. Unlike the University, UNC does not offer parking to incoming freshmen.

“There are a lot of folks who prefer to utilize the transit system,” said Randy Young, spokesman for the UNC Department of Safety. “We’ve gone to inordinate measures to make sure that the congestion and dependence on single-occupancy vehicles are attended to here on campus. We have 6,000 people on the Commuter Alternative Program.”

The program offers students an incentive to walk, ride bikes or use transit on campus by rewarding them with prizes and merchant discounts.

The University has a similar program called the Alternative Transportation Program, with a student participation of 1,200.

The program allows students who walk or take the bus to receive 22 days of free parking per year in specified parking locations.

The University also instituted the priority system, which guarantees all permit holders a parking space on campus.

The system was put into place in 2002. Before the system, permits were sold to anyone who wanted to purchase one, but there was no guarantee that there would be an available space. This resulted in traffic jams and overcrowded lots.

The priority system tries to solve that problem.

“I can tell you that there are some things that are completely unique to Georgia,” Walter said. “I think we’re the only ones in the country to have the priority system, where students get a chance to compete for all the spots on campus. They don’t do that at other campuses because it’s so difficult to manage.”