At the latest Board of Regents meeting, UNI’s proposed rates for parking passes, fees and tickets were approved by the Regents. This means that for students seeking a C preferred, or CP pass, for the next academic year will pay 10% more than what a CP pass cost this year. The total cost of the pass will go from $120 to $132. Ten other pass classifications will also see raises in pricing for the next academic year, ranging from 2.4% to 3.8% increases.
UNI Chief of Police, Helen Haire, elaborated that one of the main reasons for the price increase is inflation. “Our cost for what we do never goes down, just like everything we do, especially these days,” said Haire. A large part of the pricing increase is to cover everything that the parking department does. According to Haire, UNI Parking is an auxiliary department of the university, meaning that the department receives no money from the UNI general fund and is completely self funded. A large portion of the money received from permits helps to cover costs associated with maintaining the parking department, such as paying the parking staff and covering maintenance costs.
While CP passes pricing is increasing by $12, B pass pricing will increase by $2.40, C pass pricing will increase by $1.80, R pass pricing will increase by $1.20, A faculty passes will increase by $4.80 and B faculty and staff passes will increase rates by $3.
“Whether it’s filling a pothole, renovating entire parking lots … snow removal, salting, these are all things that parking covers,” said Haire. She noted how especially with snow removal, budgeting can be tough. “In the winter, it could snow two inches every few days,” said Haire. “Whether it’s two inches or twelve, the snow will need to be plowed, and we’ll have to pay for that.” Haire also noted that while UNI hasn’t completely renovated a larger parking lot in more recent years, even the partial ROTH parking lot renovation can prove to be costly for the department. As inflation increases, the cost to upkeep the lots also rises.
Haire also remarked on changes within the parking department that have been successful, but have cost the department money, such as the ticket software system and the online meter pay system. “These softwares all cost money,” said Haire. “We’re also trying to keep up with rising costs … it’s doing nothing but going up.” The UNI Chief of Police noted that they’ve also seen a rise in cost for maintaining the current lots that UNI owns, including the Multimodal Transportation Center. Haire said that the parking department is continuously looking for ways to accommodate student wants and needs when it comes to on campus parking, whether that’s permitted parking or metered parking. “So now students have those options … Nobody forces you to do that, but at least you have that option,” Haire said.
Students will be able to purchase passes this coming summer for the next academic year at parking.uni.edu.
