Can we talk about the abysmal mess that is Saint Louis University’s parking system? A lack of spots, far-away garages, frequently stolen or broken-into cars and ample fees are all common occurrences in a student parking at SLU. Sometimes it is hard to find sources for writing a news story, but not when it comes to SLU’s parking. Students jumped at the opportunity to criticize the deeply flawed system.

One senior student studying education, Emily Slocum, described a situation where she could not find a spot near her apartment, so she pulled off to the side and turned on her hazards to run into her apartment to unload a few things. To her surprise, she was issued a $75 fine for parking in a fire lane despite only being there for around 15 minutes.

“I understand it’s a fire lane, but also when everybody else does it, and I’ve done it in the past, and it’s been fine,” Slocum said. “Like I’m already paying you $700 to park [with] no guarantee of a spot. I wanted to run stuff into my apartment and then I got charged $75.”

Have you gotten an unfair citation? Do not fret! You can appeal the citation and wait a reasonable period of five months before getting rejected by the appeals committee, that is if they even respond at all. Slocum attempted to dispute her $75 fine and was ghosted by the appeals committee. 

“I called them almost two weeks after I had gotten [the fine] because I appealed it and hadn’t heard back. They had told me that the committee to review citations meets once a month, but it would take at most two months,” Slocum said. “I did not hear back until February. This happened in September.”

This is far from the only student this has happened to. Another student, Shelby Slomski, has a similar story. They were unable to find a spot at any lots near their residence, so they ended up having to park at the Olive-Compton garage, a decent walk from everywhere else on campus.

“After this incident, I emailed parking for any explanation on why this decision was made and explained how the situation made me extremely uncomfortable walking by myself at night to my residence and got no response. This happened on Oct. 23, 2023,” Slomski said.

The sheer distance of Olive-Compton has spurred a lot of disdain from students, and some like student Hardy Oldham wish administrators would try walking in student’s shoes.

“I’d like to see Freddy P. walk half a mile back to his house every night,” Oldham said.

When compared to other schools nearby, SLU charges luxury prices for less than mediocre parking lots. WashU’s cheapest parking options come in at $42 a year, and Webster University has options for $115 a year, with their village parking even being included in rent. Comparatively, SLU charges $440 a year for its cheapest full-time pass. That is just for students, as a general faculty pass–yes, even faculty have to pay– is $620 a year. It is not as though safety comes along with these abhorrently high costs, as we all know how many car break-in alerts we receive a day. The price of parking at SLU includes the risk of your car being stolen.

Imagine showing up to work and having to pay for parking. SLU faculty do not have to imagine it, because this school knows how to squeeze its own students and faculty for all they are worth. We spoke to three SLU professors, and they all said they stick to street parking on principle. For a university that prides itself on having a sense of fairness and justice, it is immensely disappointing to see that even faculty have to pay for parking passes or settle for the meter.

You may be wondering how much money these high costs calculate to, and here is a rough estimate to try to wrap your head around: if only 5,000 students, less than half the school, and just 500 faculty had the base student general pass at $440 a year, SLU would be pulling $2.4 million annually. That is not counting the other 8,000 students, any other faculty, visitors, citations and any of the other drastically more expensive options for passes.

Despite this, many lots do not have scanners at their exits, which cannot be too expensive for a parking system that charges so much. This lack of security by SLU makes it open season for car thieves as they need no authentication to get out once they have frolicked in and taken a car. 

Do not worry, there is hope for us yet, as we can always count on Subway and Qdoba to soak up our sorrows. Oh wait, that will not be available to us until the end of this semester, at best. 

Thanks SLU.