Every summer, students from all over come to our beloved N.C. State to get another dose of education. Meanwhile, their peers spend restless days on the beach working on a golden tan.
While other students are working summer jobs to earn extra money, those who made the decision to attend summer school are spending hundreds if not thousands of dollars to attend NCSU during their summer break.
With the plethora of sacrifices we make to attend summer school, one would only assume that the University would make similar sacrifices to inhibit students attendance at summer school. At the very least, NCSU should ensure that we have somewhere convenient to park while we are in class.
Due to the construction that has taken over Hillsborough Street and reduced it to two lanes, students find themselves in a morning traffic frenzy.
Those who drive must quickly maneuver through the traffic, which is often times at a standstill, and find a place to park their vehicle.
Yet still, the process gets more complicated. After parking, students must still have enough time to walk to class before getting shut out of their daily lecture by a professor.
Many students such as Camille Jackson, a senior in architectural design, have expressed their dismay concerning the congestion on Hillsborough Street. “There are so many markings on the road, it seems like people are confused when they are driving on Hillsborough Street. I’ve almost gotten hit twice because of all the congestion and confusion on the street, and there is hardly anywhere to park after I have experienced all of that,” Jackson said.
As a result of the construction on Hillsborough Street, many of the parking spots on Hillsborough Street have ceased to exist altogether. For example, a number of one hour parking spots located in front of North Hall have disappeared during the construction.
While the University cannot necessarily be blamed for the troubles that the City of Raleigh has caused students, NCSU Transportation should do something to make summer school more manageable.
There are several parking areas that have remained unoccupied since the start of the first summer session, such as the underutilized employee parking lot at North Hall.
The least NCSU could do for students is to provide a place — free of cost — to park our vehicles during the hours we are on campus for classes.
College students have a lot to deal with on a daily basis, parking should not be one of those headaches.
As a research institution, there is no doubt in my mind that NCSU can discover a way to give a summer break from the parking problems we face during the fall and spring.
Send Antoinette your thoughts on summer parking to [email protected].
