Dear Parking Services,

Why is it that I pay $262 per year for a parking pass that leaves me late for class or driving circles around the parking lot for 30 minutes? There are countless stories I've heard from friends and experienced myself about driving around looking for a parking spot for forever or how they have received a ticket because they didn't want to be late for class.

In my opinion, faculty and staff spots are absolutely everywhere. Yes, I get it. They work for the university, so they should get priority parking. But what about the students that pay money to attend this school, live off campus, buy a meal plan, and buy textbooks? Parking services makes so much money off of people just because they have a lack of parking for commuters.

Now the main argument for this may be that students can take the bus. As true as that may be, there are two main reasons I would rather drive than ride the bus: the busses aren't always reliable and I've already paid over $250 to be able to drive. This is ridiculous to me! If I'm paying that much to park, I should be able to get a spot decently close to my class.

Another thing that doesn't make sense to me is that there seems to be way more students that attend Virginia Tech compared to faculty and staff. Thinking about professors and students alone, there must be at least 20 students per one professor. Therefore, there should be plenty more parking spaces for commuter students than faculty and staff.

I have struggled so many times to find a parking spot this year. There have been various moments when I have had to awkwardly follow somebody just because they were walking to their car to leave and I could take their spot.

I understand that people who work for the university should get priority parking so it makes sense that they have spots closer to all of the buildings. I just really don't understand why there aren't more commuter spaces available in popular areas. I am sure that this issue bothers many other students like me, so I know I'm not the only one who thinks this!

Sincerely,

A Very Annoyed Student