Slight Case of Insanity

Having just missed my second lecture of the semester (bearing in mind we are only in week 3), I thought it appropriate to have a good old rant about university parking.  I am at Griffith University and the majority of my classes are at the Nathan Campus, with only one at the Mt Gravatt Campus.

Now, in case you aren’t familiar with university parking, it is conveniently divided into areas.  Every semester you are required to purchase a parking permit.  (Anyone familiar with Nathan Campus, you do not reach free parking until Mount Gravatt Cemetery. Everything between there (just west of the Klumpp Rd Motorway entrance) and Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Rd, you need a permit to even consider slowing down in).

So, each parking area requires a different kind of parking permit ranging in cost.  The 50 or so, nicely cleared & well-lit parking spaces, a mere stroll to the buildings  will set you back $148.20 a semester. The convenience of parking undercover will cost you  $197.60 (for those seriously opposed to rain and not afraid to pay to avoid it.).  Now, for the general ‘on-a-budget-&-there-are-no-buses-to-get-me-there’ students, such as myself, parking will cost you about $98.80 a semester.  So $197.60 a year for the privilege of being able to park somewhere you may, possibly, be able to catch a glimpse of a university building…..on a clear day.  Alternatively you can purchase a Day Permit for $5 per day. This is regardless of whether you are there for an hour or for 12 hours. Being at uni myself every day of the week this would come to about  $325 (taking into account exams, study week and mid-semester vacation).

However, get yourself knocked up and you get FREE PARKING (yes, you heard me – totally free) in specially designated parking spaces where you can basically step out of your car and straight into your lecture chair. These parking spaces are actually the disabled parking spaces.  Let’s hope we don’t ever get more knocked-up students than cripples, because you’ll be wheeling your way from near the motorway, my friends!

So, back to the original reason for my ravings about parking. Today I missed my second lecture in 3 weeks. No, I was not late. No, I was not ditching on purpose (I swear!). I drove around for over 25 minutes searching for a car park. That’s right, 25 minutes. I lapped that damn university campus about 4 times and every single car space was full. There was actually a little cavalcade, if you will, of us driving around, looking for that illusive empty space or alternatively, some innocently unaware student to stalk to their car. Oh yes, I had lowered myself to stalking. I still feel dirty.

Anyway, so after 25 minutes of lapping (and my lecture having already started), I angrily turned my car for home. By this stage, I was fuming. You would think the university would know how many students it had enrolled each year, as well as how many parking permits they sold. You would think that a university could supply ample parking for it’s students, considering the excessive tuition fees we pay (and parking permits on top of that). And, as I mentioned, this was not the first time I had missed out on a class due to lack of parking. This is not a one-off case.

So, basically, my options are: I can pay $197.60/yr for a parking permit, to spend 25 minutes driving around campus only to fail in my endeavour to locate a space and, in turn, miss my class. Or, I can get knocked-up and receive a red carpet parking space……only to have to drop out of uni after a few months to have the baby and then be stuck with it the rest of my life (how much is my education really worth to me?). Neither option particularly jumps out and says, “Pick me, pick me!“ So, I have decided I shall continue on as I have been; I am not purchasing a parking permit this semester (in protest, of course), I will arrive 10 minutes earlier than normal for class to increase chance of finding a space (if this fails, parking illegally up a gutter somewhere), and I will be maintaining my un-knocked up status with pride and dignity! Parking permits be damned, I say!