One factor that all students have in common is parking. Whether students choose to park at the First United Bank Center, on campus, or throughout Canyon, parking has always been a topic of discussion between students. 

All 10,029 students have to park somewhere. The question is, where?

With the new football stadium requiring on-campus parking for people going to the games, and students are already required to have parking permit stickers attached to their vehicles, they are left with few options to park. 

Students must also have their cars moved by 6:00 a.m. on game days or “WT’ll boot it” as stated in a campus-wide email.

Students share frustrated opinions towards parking across the campus. We offered a few students to voice their views on the parking situation. Sophmore AD/PR major Trey Runyan had these things to say;

“I’m honestly a little frustrated with it as I work off-campus,” Runyan said, “…when I come back from my classes, there’s no parking for me even to park most of the time.”

Runyan continues, “I’m parking off campus and walking about half a mile to get to class.”

When asked about issues on parking tickets, Runyan said, “I haven’t yet. Fingers crossed.”

Sophomore musical theater major Haley Hurst had similar sentiments as Runyan.

“It’s not great. It’s not my favorite,” Hurst said, ” I don’t like having just to drive hours until I can find a place to park.”

We asked Hurst about her schedule and if parking has affected her ability to be on time. 

“My class starts at 11 every day so not really but when I come back from going out to eat at night or whatever,” Hurst said, “it kind of sucks to have to park at the FAC instead of my home.”

Lastly, sophomore musical theater major Cassidy Horton talks about here parking experiences.

“Like most people have said it’s not great,” Horton said, “my main complication and like frustration for on game days is that we have to move from our home housing area. 

Horton continues, “…we pay for those, but we still have to move for game days.”

“It’s frustrating that we have to move for people that don’t pay to go to school and use those parking spots because they want to go to the game,” Horton said, “I just wish they had parking specifically for the game, not in our residential areas.”

It seems that parking will continue to be an issue here at WTAMU. With a lower student enrollment this year, but always a possible spike in registration, will we see new parking options made available?

Walking, while not desirable, is an option. There are also the shuttles that run Mon. – Thurs. 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.. To track the shuttle, follow this link; https://bufftransit.wtamu.edu/.

Students, remember to have all cars parked in designated guest parking on gameday by 6:00 a.m. to avoid tickets or tows. For more information on designated parking areas for gameday, call parking services at 806-651-2300.