Introduction
Every year, several undergraduates join the American universities to begin their fresh undergraduate courses or to proceed with their courses (Schmidt and Wesley 2). Florida National University receives several students for different course purposes. The university has several students and employees who possess personal cars. Roen, Glau, and Maid (17) state that convenience makes learners happy. These personal cars are for convenience purposes when the students and employees are commuting to the university for studies or for work (Schmidt and Wesley 1). The inadequacy of car parking spaces has been a persistent problem in the Florida National University. Therefore, this essay analyses the problem of the inadequacy of car parking in the Florida National University.
Critical Issues in the Parking System
The problem of the inadequacy of car parking spaces ranges from the student parking lots to the staff parking lots. According to Shoup (121), big American universities and colleges resemble small cities with crowded people. In the Florida National University, there are over 2500 full-time students and about 500 workers. Out of this population, over 900 students and 200 faculty members have personal cars. The university parking lots are frequently in chaos. While some are driving from the institution gate, others are driving towards the same gate. Some people even find parking spaces around the fences (Shoup 123). The parking area seems congested, even as the number of personal cars continues to increase.
Inadequate parking space forces the students and the faculty members to commit parking offenses or drive carelessly while hankering for the parking space. Such behaviors are violations of the institutional parking policies (Shoup 123). The employee’s parking spaces, the student’s parking spaces, and the visitor’s parking spaces are all prone to overcrowding. This overcrowding threatens the proper functioning of the security officers, the insurance regulators, the hazard control workers, the traffic regulators, and the permit workers (Schmidt and Wesley 4). Interfering with the functions of the above officials normally risks the safety of the thousands of people who operate within the institution for various purposes (Schmidt and Wesley 3). In addition, the congested parking lots cause disturbances to the institution and the car owners.
Factors that Aggravate the Problem
The initial factor that puts the university into this problem is the space issue. The university just upgraded in 2011, when it received accreditation from the accrediting agency to offer degrees at advanced university levels. Since then, the numbers of the students and employees have soared dramatically, yet the old administration systems and infrastructures have remained the same. The parking problems in the university also arise from the permit departments (Shoup 126). The university department that issues parking permits and collects parking levies has been reluctant to implement changes that may solve the parking dilemma. The institution has registered several cases of unauthorized and altered permits that students illegally use to park their cars.
Conclusion
Students and employees are increasing rapidly in American universities. This is because of the high number of students who join the universities for various higher education achievements. In the Florida National University, the increasing numbers of students and workers are creating havoc in the institutional parking lots because the majority of the students and workers possess personal cars. This problem originates from the historical development of the university. The university seems to expand in its human population, yet the old infrastructure can no longer accommodate the surging population. Since it upgraded from a mere college to a university, congestion in the parking lots is becoming a nuisance. Additionally, the institution permit department is also failing in its policymaking strategies.
Works Cited
Roen, Duane, Gregory Glau and Barry Maid. The McGraw-Hill Guide: Writing for College Writing for Life: Second Edition, London, UK: McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2012. Print.
Schmidt, Bill, and Christopher Wesley. “The University-as-Monopolist: Why Parking Problems Persist at University Campuses.” Journal of Applied Business and Economics 2.1(2007): 1-6. Print.
Shoup, Donald. The Politics and Economics of Parking in Campus, Aldershot, UK: Ashgate Publishing, 2008. Print.