Haverford should be responsible for off-campus parking

Parking: an issue that persists year after year. Despite neighbors growing increasingly frustrated, students arriving late to class, and reserved campus spots stolen, the administration has done little to address the parking dilemma.

Upperclassmen have all struggled with various parking dilemmas before. 

It is 8:15 a.m. and you do not have a reserved spot on campus. There are no open spots in nearby two-hour parking or surrounding neighborhoods, so you end up finding an empty, but reserved parking space in the red lot. As you rush through the upper school doors and make your way to class, you are ten minutes late to first period, disrupting the class and leaving you feeling behind. A few hours later, you get an email from Mr. Kolade, Ms. Kenna, or Signet Society notifying you that you have taken a student or faculty member’s reserved spot, and that person now has nowhere to park. You are then threatened with future parking privileges and detention.

Parents are already paying a great amount of money for their sons to attend school, so Haverford’s lack of parking spots for all student-drivers should not be passed on to students and their families.

But, say you are lucky enough to find a parking spot on Millbrook Lane. You arrive at class on time and do not have to stress about moving your car or being in someone else’s reserved spot. When you return to the car later in the day to go home, and you find that your license plate is bent, your mirror is taken off,  you have an exchange with a neighbor, or there is a sign with a “bad word on your car,” as one student attested to last year. 

For some who have had enough of the daily parking headache, they purchase a spot at a nearby facility for $80-100 per month. Parents are already paying a great amount of money for their sons to attend school, so Haverford’s lack of parking spots for all student-drivers should not be passed on to students and their families.

Acquiring parking spaces for students without reserved spots on campus should be the financial and logistical responsibility of the administration. Haverford must stop blaming students for parking problems and instead take it upon themselves. There are many nearby businesses and facilities with sizable parking lots that Haverford could partner with. Or, they could reach out to the township to work out ways to create spots for Haverford students. 

The least the administration could do is make an effort to resolve this situation.

There is already enough stress in a school day—between assessments, homework, sports, and extracurricular activities—and something like parking should not be a stressor for students who may already feel overworked.