South Puget Sound Community College

The State of Washington does not allocate money to pay for parking lots on college campuses. Consequently, community colleges must fund parking through the collection of fees. The costs of parking lot construction, lighting, maintenance, and enforcement are borne by users.

In the past the state did fund some parking lot construction. That is why some colleges built prior to the 1970's have low parking fees or no parking fees. South Puget Sound Community College is one of the newest colleges in the state and has had to fund parking lots from permit fees.

South Puget Sound Community College has chosen to collect parking fees through the selling of permits. This transfers the cost directly to the user and allows for an equitable paying of parking fees by all users including administrators, faculty, and staff. In the community college system this is the most commonly used method for funding parking. Another common method is through a per-credit fee added onto tuition. We have elected not to use this method at this time because users and nonusers of parking are assessed the fee.

The college has 1498 on campus parking spaces. Students who park a vehicle on campus have three options: purchasing a permit, purchasing a daily permit - the cost of a day permit is $2.00; or, parking in metered parking - the cost is $.25 an hour (there are a limited number of metered parking spaces).

Building a new parking lot is expensive. It involves planning, permits, clearing, paving, lighting, water retention, painting/striping, and signage. In our case there were land costs as well for the lot on 29th Avenue.

In 2004, a 120-space parking lot was built behind Building 31 at a cost of $431,337.00. In 1999, 156 additional parking spaces were added when Lot A was remodeled. The cost to expand parking Lot A was approximately $619,000.00. Several years ago, parking Lot E was repaved at a cost of $64,000.00. The cost of maintaining the existing lots, including managing the carpool lot, lighting repair, painting/striping, and enforcement is about $163,000.00 a year. Parking is expensive to maintain and construct.

The college makes every effort to pay for the parking costs and yet keep the parking expenses at a minimum.

The best way is to ride the bus. You can ride Intercity Transit buses for free - anytime, anywhere, - if you take one or more credit classes at South Puget Sound and you have a current student ID. If you don't live on or near a bus line you can use one of the Park and Ride Lots.

Use the Carpool Lot - One permit is purchased, and each person in your carpool using that permit, must register his or her vehicle with the Security Office. The more people in your carpool the cheaper your share of the cost is.

Find other means of coming to campus, such as riding your bike or walking. There are bike lockers on campus and personal lockers for your use in Building 31 as well as numerous bike racks in various locations throughout campus.

Parking Permits: South Puget Sound parking permits are required for both day and night parking (Monday - Friday). Valid parking permits must be visibly displayed on the vehicle by the first day of the quarter.

If you have a valid parking permit, but need to drive a different vehicle without a permit, obtain a temporary permit from the Security Office.

Community Education Classes: Student taking community education classes will pay a parking fee based on a flat rate. The rate is $3.19 for each week the class meets. Community education parking fees do not apply to students who are taking classes for credit.

Parking Voucher: Students who have been awarded and have accepted their financial aid may contact the Financial Aid Office for a temporary parking voucher. Vouchers will be given out two weeks prior to the start of the quarter for those who will be picking up financial aid balance checks. Students will be required to show photo identification and aid status will be verified before temporary vouchers are given.

Daily Parking Permits: Vehicles that do not have a valid permit may purchase a daily permit for $2.00. The pay station is located at the Mottman Entrance and accepts one-dollar bills and coins however, it does not make change.

Carpool parking is available Monday - Friday (6:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.) in Lot G. There must be two or more adults in a vehicle with a valid permit. Passengers must originate from off campus. The carpool lot is not available summer quarter.

Visitor parking (30 minutes) is located in Lot B and metered parking ($.25 an hour) is located in Lot C. Visitors may also obtain a free temporary permit from the Security Office.

Illegally Parked Vehicles: All vehicles must park in legal parking spaces (between the white lines) and/or designated spaces/areas. Vehicles parked illegally or without a valid permit will be cited, impounded, or immobilized with a vehicle wheel lock. Parking fines are $20.00 and $250.00 for disabled parking violations.