By Keith Long
CCC Journalism Program
BLACKWOOD – Have you ever been late to class due to the lack of parking spaces? Or received a summons for parking in a reserved space? Jennifer Brown, a full-time student at Camden County College, has.
Cars fill a parking lot on the Blackwood campus. By Keith Long/CCC Journalism Program
“The college should make more spaces available closer to the Madison building so that we do not have to walk as far and not charge students to park,” said Brown.
Currently there are 3,007 spaces available on the Blackwood campus; 507 faculty/reserved spaces and 73 handicapped. However, the number of spaces can expand or decline due to the demand of students for any given semester. There are 15,500 students attending the college right now. Do the math, not enough spaces.
“To accommodate our students we have constructed 465 spaces in the gravel lot east of Peter Cheeseman Road and installed the crosswalk for student safety,” said an administrator on the campus. “We are very aware of the number of spaces needed throughout each semester so that everyone has a place to park. We do lot counts throughout the year and adjust the number of spaces accordingly. With these counts, we also have the ability to determine how many spaces we will need to create with the construction projects. Unfortunately as with all construction projects there are inconveniences while building; however, moving forward we will be modifying all parking lots to accommodate more cars, ultimately making parking more convenient on the Blackwood campus. Although students may not always park where they would like, I can assure you there is always a space for every vehicle.”
The campus parking is first come first serve. If your tardiness makes you park in a reserved space know that Public Safety will issue you a summons. On average 130 summonses will be issued throughout the month.
The Public Safety Office does have an appeal process for anyone who feels they have received a summons without cause. They also stress that each car should have a proper parking decal.
Ultimately it is the students’ responsibility to be on time regardless of the lack of spaces, campus officials said. To solve the problem one can always come to campus early enough to get an ideal space. And remember to park within the white lines not the yellow ones.