New parking policy gives students living in Pondside I Residence Hall the ability to park in Pondside II parking lot
Allie Bedell
Equinox Staff
Beginning Monday, May 7, Keene State College students can purchase on-campus parking permits for the 2012-2013 school year, with few changes to parking policies.
The only change taking place, according to Sam Massahos, Campus Safety’s parking operations coordinator, is that students living in Pondside I Residence Hall will be permitted to buy parking passes for the Pondside II lot.
Previously, only Pondside II residents were permitted to park there.
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“We ultimately decided to open up the Pondside II lot to P1 and P2 residents because we did not sell out of the permits this year with just P2 residents purchasing them,” she said.
“Normally only P2 residents can park there, but we’ve opened it up.”
As has been the case in the past, students will be permitted to purchase permits based on a credit system.
Massahos said this has been the case for the five years she’s been at KSC, first as a student, then in her current position.
She said they typically go on sale the “Monday after graduation for those students that have 90 credits. I think because of the parking capacity on campus,” Massahos said.
Students with 90 or more credits may purchase their permits on Monday, May 7.
Students with 60 credits or more will purchase their permits on Monday, May 21, 32 credits or more can purchase on Monday June 4, and 24 credits or more are scheduled for Monday, June 18.
All sales begin at 8 a.m. on the day listed.
First-year students with fewer than 24 credits will not be permitted to purchase parking passes.
At the end of the 2012 spring semester, Massahos said students currently held 1,766 permits, which she said is pretty average compared to other years.
This number includes commuter students and continuing education students.
All permit prices for both the entire year or just a semester will remain the same as the 2011-2012 school year.
Winchester Lot permits will cost $150 for the year, Pondside II and Pondside III permits will cost $250, Owl’s Nest Lot permits will be $200, and commuter lot permits will be $125.
Massahos said the full list of permits, prices, and restrictions will be distributed to students and will be available on Campus Safety’s website.
Students wishing to purchase permits may visit the parking page on the college website for guidelines and instructions.
Permits will be mailed to students during the summer.
Faculty and staff will not be required to purchase permits during this period, according to Massahos.
Parking permits are included in their benefit packages and are given to them by the college.
“Theirs is included, so theirs are free,” Massahos said.
“They don’t have to pay for their permits.”
Although students are eligible to purchase permits, many choose not to for various reasons.
Junior Tyler Letendre lives off-campus and has a car, but doesn’t have a commuter pass.
“They’re kind of expensive,” he said. “And if it’s a nice day I don’t mind walking.”
He said on days when he has to drive to campus, he usually just uses metered parking.
He added that he uses the commuter lot on the weekends though.
Juniors Andrea Macri and Justine Miano agreed with Letendre, saying it wasn’t worth it to purchase a commuter pass.
“I don’t live that far away,” Macri said. “It’s just on Main Street.”
Miano echoed the sentiment.
“It’s in walking distance,” she said. “And they’re too expensive.”
In addition to cost, some students don’t have cars.
Senior Colter Beote said he doesn’t own a car, and instead just walks to campus every day.
Allie Bedell can be contacted at
abedell@keene-equinox.com.