When it comes to the parking procedures at Winston-Salem State, change is always constant.
The campus has added more assigned parking lots for commuters. They have added seven new gated lots for faculty and staff. New parking meters have been added and the shuttle services have been improved.
“We are trying to make the campus pedestrian friendly. Students come and go. Faculty and staff don’t. There has been a drastic drop in traffic on campus [since the installation of the new lots],” said Lt. Patrick Ansel of the WSSU Campus Police Department.
Lot F, behind the Hauser building, was a commuter lot and it is now gated.
An academic adviser Kymberley Hoffman working in Hauser said she likes the gated lot.
“I think it was long overdue,” she said. “It is much easier to park right behind the building we work.”
Commuters may no longer park behind the Hauser building, near the Childhood Development Center or behind the Anderson Center, but they can park near the physical plant. Residents are no permitted to park near the physical plant, Dillard or Brown Residence Hall. The largest area for student parking is behind Wilson Residence Hall.
Parking fees vary. Commuters pay $70 and $120 for shuttle lots FF and GG near the stadium. Employee parking fees range from $210 non-gated to $320 for reserved lots.
WSSU’s parking fees are among the bottom percent of fees charged in the UNC-System.
“The Ram Express stays full,” said Ashleé King, a commuter who rides the shuttle.
“I don’t understand why we just can’t park where we want to park. We are the ones that go here, so we should not have to go through so much trouble to park. They charge an arm and a leg to get a decal and $70 by the stadium is still too much.”
Ansel says WSSU is getting larger buses and adding parking meters for visitors.
“The parking changes are to make it safer for the students and to guarantee employees and students a parking spot,” Ansel said. “I’ve been here for five years, and one of the complaints we get a lot is it takes 30 to 40 minutes to find a parking spot. The stress of trying to find a parking spot is a thing of the past.”