Parking is an ongoing discussion on campus, and this semester is no exception as students raise concerns about the University increasing the cost of parking permits by nearly 50%.
The cost rose from $180 a year for a student parking permit to $290.
In response to this decision, a student-organized petition circulated the UP community with over 250 signatures calling for a price reduction.
Joshua Mager, a senior mechanical engineering major, signed the petition, asking for an explanation of the sudden surge.
“In my mind, it’s just like, why?” Mager said.
The decision came after the University reevaluated the cost of parking for the first time in five years, according to Director of Campus Safety and Emergency Management Michael McNerney.
“Part of that conversation was, ‘What does it really cost for us to have parking? Like, what's that number?’ And the answer was, no one knew,” McNerney said.
After analyzing the expenses of maintaining the parking lots — including paving, painting and de-icing — the University concluded that each spot costs approximately $300 to maintain, according to McNerney.
As a result, the University discovered that they had been severely undercharging parking.
And the new cost of parking is comparatively lower than other local universities like Lewis and Clark and Portland State whose annual permit prices are north of $300, sometimes even per term. That is, apart from Reed College, which doesn’t require a permit.
Prior to this evaluation, parking permit costs were able to remain lower because the price of parking maintenance was subsidized by tuition, according to McNerney.
However, after receiving pressure from the City of Portland under a new zoning code, the University had gone through a transportation demand management plan in which the city expects UP to reduce car trips, according to Vice President for Finance & Operations Eric Barger.
One way to accomplish that goal was charging the full cost of parking via permits so that students who make an effort to not bring their car to campus don’t have to contribute to the cost of parking.
“Because those are the folks consuming the resource of parking, those are the folks who are ultimately going to be bearing the cost,” McNerney said.
Street parking on North Portsmouth Ave.
Casyn Bardos, a sophomore criminology major, expressed frustration at the lack of transparency on behalf of the University as to where the money was going. He says that the increase in cost is burdensome and an added stress.
“With an increase like that, and all of a sudden too, it’s not easy because we're students, we're not working full time, we're not making an active income,” Bardos said. “We don't really see much of where this parking money goes to.”
McNerney says that even if a student doesn’t see immediate maintenance of parking lots during their four years at UP, upholding the lots still occurs and can be episodic.
However, the UP website didn’t reflect the new fees until roughly a week before move-in, according to McNerney, despite the change being finalized in November 2024.
“It was like they tried to hide it from us, tried to just sneak it in there,” Mager said.
McNerney says he takes full responsibility for not announcing the change sooner.
“In no way was it a malicious thing,” McNerney said. “It was an honest, short-sighted mistake on my part, and something that I've learned from and will do better going forward.”
He urges students who are faced with a financial burden to contact Campus Safety about potential permit accommodations and does not foresee any significant increases in parking permit costs in the future.
Kaylee Monahan is the Copy and Opinions Editor at The Beacon. She can be reached at monahan26@up.edu.
