Winter is in full swing at NCC, which raises a concern that many students on campus share—finding parking.
Parking, and whether or not they’ll be able to find any, constantly poses a struggle for students all over campus. It’s an issue nearly everyone on campus experiences, whether they are a resident or a commuter.
Student opinion
Many students say they dislike the parking situation due to inconvenient lot locations and lack of spaces during peak times.
“The only time where you can find parking on the north side of campus is if you have an 8 a.m.,” Oliver Wolcott, ‘27, a commuter student at NCC said. “If you are looking for parking any time after 9 a.m., good luck.”
Students say they often circle the campus in search of a spot but come up empty-handed.
“When I was a freshman, I would get to campus earlier to ensure that I had parking,” Wolcott, ’27, said. “However, as of more recently, I have begun to utilize city parking lots.”
With the onset of winter, the struggle has only increased as many more students are trying to park closer to their buildings to avoid walking long distances in the cold.
Another commuter student, Carolynn Missak, ‘27, recounted her experience with this weather change and how it’s affected her ability to park on campus.
“In the summer, or I guess the fall, it was easier to find parking in the middle of campus because people didn’t mind walking as much,” Missak, ’26, said. “But as it got cold, now, it’s like impossible to find parking unless it’s 3 p.m. or later.”
Campus response
Campus Safety is the department in charge of maintaining and assigning NCC’s parking lots. Director of Campus Safety Ashley Klco said that the college is aware of students’ discontent with the parking situation and considers their opinion when planning lot assignments.
“I think parking is very personal because you want to be as close to your building as possible, and a lot of our classes are centrally on campus, so those parking lots fill up first,” Klco said. “It’s this personal preference that’s really hard to break, and I think that’s something that’s really, really challenging for us as we’re trying to figure out parking lots and who we assign and who we designate.”
Efforts made
To find the best solution to this issue, NCC blended the commuter and faculty lots to offer more parking options across campus for the first time in over 10 years, according to Klco.
“Right outside of Goldspohn, that lot, used to be just for commuters, and then the one right outside the science center was only for faculty and staff,” Klco said. “Why? … Like why are we preventing students from parking by the one science center? Our students love that building!”
According to Klco, the construction of the parking pavilion increased the amount of spots for all students and staff. Floors two through four are for resident vehicles, while the first floor is for commuters, visitors and faculty ones.
“We have the capacity for students,” Klco said. “The challenge is convenience, right? We want it to be right next to where we’re going to be… We’re always taking that into consideration. We want to make parking accessible to our community, and when we’re looking to see where classes are built and things of that nature, we want to take it into consideration. But we’re limited to our geographic location.”
Maintenance
Between student and campus safety opinions, the lots are maintained fairly well during and outside of winter. For Campus Safety, this means that the main problem is the amount of space.
“I think honestly the only thing is there is a couple lots where the bushes are really big by the entrances, and the trees,” Missak, ’26, said. “If they trimmed them, it would be easier to see while getting out.”
Despite the lots being a secondary concern to Campus Safety, they are proficient with their maintenance procedures. According to Klco, Campus Safety partners with third-party facilities for lot maintenance across all seasons. They work closely together in order to keep up with maintenance, especially snow removal and salting.
“They are very active during snowfall to make sure that our sidewalks and our parking lots are safe to transverse and drive through,” Klco said. “They’ll come in at three in the morning to make sure that any student arriving at six or seven in the morning can get here safely.”
Hope for solutions
The construction of the parking pavilion opened up some lot space, but there is still more to be done. The challenge is figuring out what that solution is.
“I feel that more parking opportunities would be integral for an improvement of the current parking issues,” Wolcott, ’27, said.
Missak, ’26, couldn’t pin-point a solution. “There’s, like, really no way because there’s no room for any new parking lots anywhere, so I’m not sure.”
As of now, there is no word of any upcoming parking plan changes, but many students are hoping for a solution.
