Saginaw News on Parking at SVSU

Saginaw Valley State University to address one of students' biggest gripes -- parking
By Andy Hoag | The Saginaw News
February 10, 2010, 6:45PM
The nearly 3,800 Saginaw Valley State University students that school officials surveyed this fall responded with very good to exemplary satisfaction ratings in every aspect except one: parking.

While the dissatisfaction — typical among SVSU, and other schools’, students — came as no surprise to university officials, this year they’ve decided to address the situation.

By the time students come back to campus in the fall, they’ll have at least another 400 spots to park in and possibly another 600.

University Board of Control members this week approved a plan to spend up to $1.8 million to add the spots to several areas on campus, and it’s coming at a time when students’ satisfaction with parking is at an all-decade low.

In a survey that officials conduct every four years, 3,768 students this fall gave satisfaction ratings that ranged mostly from the low 70 percents to the high 90s on a variety of services, from dining options to tutoring availability.

Their satisfaction with parking, however, has dropped from 40.9 percent in 2001 to 29.3 percent this fall.

Crews working on the construction of the new $28 million Health and Human Services building on the northwest end of campus have taken up about 130 spots normally used for the Regional Education Center. With the new building set to open this fall, those spots will become available again, as will another lot closer to the health building that will add about 270 spots, said Executive Vice President Muladore.

Workers also will repave the main lot used for the Ryder Center, Muladore said. That work should lead to the addition of about 140 spots to a lot also used by students with classes near the Zahnow Library.

Muladore also mentioned the possibility of a new parking lot on the east end of campus north of the athletic fields. The lot, which Muladore stressed is an “if,” would add between 200 and 300 spaces, he said.

“It’s a fairly significant additional number of spaces,” Muladore said.

While Muladore acknowledged the students’ concerns, he added that about 70 percent of students living on campus now bring their car to campus and that the university doesn’t charge a fee, like other universities, for on-campus resident parking. He said he’s reluctant to recommend such a fee but said, “Maybe it’s time to look at it more seriously.”

All students pay a $1.70 per credit hour fee, or $51 for a student taking the average 30 credit hours per year, for parking services, Muladore said, but that fee is “well below” the fees that universities similar to SVSU charge, Muladore said.

In addition to the new parking lots, board members also approved a $1.9 million upgrade to the chiller loop system used to heat and cool portions of the campus and a $1.5 million renovation to Wickes and Curtiss halls.

Board members also approved the final project in the university’s athletic complex renovations. Workers will transform the 10 tennis courts that sit on the southeast end of campus into six that are “sufficient” for the varsity tennis team and general use, President Eric R. Gilbertson said, for a cost of about $550,000.