Samford continues to struggle to find parking spaces for students as enrollment and construction increases. Students have received many emails saying that parking will be limited. Although limited parking has been a campus issue for a couple of years, with the growth on campus, it is expected to get worse before it gets better.
“It’s been fine, I feel like every university has issues with parking so that’s what I tell myself when I get frustrated,” senior nursing major Reagan Thieme said.
Samford is taking on a large freshman class as well as a large transfer class. This includes a sizable portion of students from Birmingham Southern, which shut down last year. 47 new admissions were added only a month ago to live on campus.
“Whether it’s 10 or 10,000 we don’t have anywhere to put them,” said transportations coordinator Aaron Farrow regarding parking and overpopulation.
The current enrollment for the University is 5,791 students. With construction continuing in many parts of campus, a lot of parking spots are taken up by the construction. Samford is expecting a crowded year on campus.
“We could be Birmingham Southern, it (overpopulation) is a great problem to have,” Farrow said.
One of the ways that the transportation services are coping with parking issues is by growing their shuttle system.
Samford will now have fewer stops for shuttles to increase efficiency. There will be three different routes with four stretch golf carts and seven full shuttle buses, instead of just three as in years past.
Transportation services also plan on adding four air-conditioned shuttle stops around campus that are supposed to be done before classes begin but appear to be behind schedule.
Students will also be able to park across the street from Samford at the soccer and intramural fields and take a shuttle to campus when there is no parking on the main campus.
“There’s something about depending on a shuttle that makes people nervous,” said assistant Dean of Howard college Dana Basinger.
Samford has also added more parking where old Greek housing was and are prioritizing keeping Homewood high school students from parking on campus. The shuttle service system is looking into better ways to update students on parking availability as they get to campus.
Campus vendors will have to park and shuttle over from the Brookwood Mall to reduce on campus parking issues. Their shuttle system will be separate from students.
Traffic may become a complication for shuttle systems, but shuttle services plan on adjusting to campus needs.
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