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Crosby Matthews frequently enters the Bull Street parking garage hunting a parking spot. He often leaves after circling the garage several times, without finding a spot, late for class, and frustrated with the system.
"It sucks because there are so many people trying to come in here," Matthews, a third-year economics student from Knoxville, Tenn., said.
Matthews is one of many USC students who attempt to park on campus every day. With over 27,000 students, there just aren't enough spots, although the university is working toward a solution.
Only 16,847 parking spots are available on campus. Therefore, it is impossible for the university to supply enough spots for the over 30,000 students, faculty and staff that are on campus each day.
"There isn't enough parking, but we're trying to work on the problem," USC spokesman Russ McKinney said. "We're trying to bring parking to campus in a way that's conducive to the rest of campus."
The university, looking to improve the situation for the 2008-2009 academic year, added 2,400 garage spots in the new Innovista complex.
While the new spots undoubtedly improved the issue, most students say more parking is still needed.
Parking garage spaces on campus go for over $500 a year, and for students who have the financial resources to purchase one, there often aren't any available.
The seven garages on campus quickly fill up before the year begins, and students trying to get a spot are left empty-handed.
"I just can't get a garage spot," Zack Miller, a second-year marketing student, said. "I tried to get one, but they were all full."
Students unable to obtain garage spaces are offered student parking, on a first-come, first-serve basis, for $70 a year.
Spots in student lots are virtually impossible to find during peak times of the day, so many students arrive much earlier than their classes to secure a spot.
Blaine Willis, a first-year sports and entertainment management student from Lexington, Ky., said he received a parking ticket on Tuesday near Capstone House. He said the ticket was unfair.
"Before I left my vehicle, I asked if the park was legal, and I was told it was," Willis said. "When I got back, I had a parking ticket."
University policy says any vehicle parked illegally around campus can be ticketed and towed at the discretion of the University Police Department.
"We don't get many complaints from students that say they didn't deserve a parking ticket," McKinney said. "We try to enforce the policies fairly."
The $15 citation must be paid within 72 hours by check or the fee rises. Students can appeal tickets, but many say the time invested into an appeal makes the process not worth it.
Commuter students are having problems finding parking spaces on campus. The biggest spot of concern for the university is parking near the Carolina Coliseum, said McKinney.
It's an acute area for traffic problems due to commuter students, McKinney said, and the university hopes to iron the situation out within the next few weeks.
"There are problems behind the Coliseum at the beginning of the year with the commuter lots, but after everyone figures out their schedules, it normally improves," McKinney said.
Relegated to one of the various first-come, first-serve student lots on campus, Miller said parking isn't even worth it.
"What's the point in even having my truck on campus if you can't move it?" Miller asked.
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