On the edges of Lower Merion and Haverford Townships, the 30-acre Haverford campus comes alive every morning. Countless Sixth Formers scramble to find parking as the day begins, hoping to secure a spot close to school. At 8:15 a.m., the rush isn’t just about finding a space; it’s also about avoiding a late slip, recognizing two-hour parking limits, and staying composed with college deadlines looming. Every weekday morning, this chaos unfolds.
Last Friday marked the fourth time since early September that students have been denied parking access in the Red Lot. Students’ complaints about parking could be heard echoing across campus.
The issue, while a simple one, takes time, effort, and resources to amend.
“We have a small campus; there are certain events that take place on our campus throughout the year. Dozens of them require visitors to have priority parking. Therefore, seniors will be asked to move,” Sixth Form Student Dean Mr. Will Leech said. “The seniors are the least important. The faculty and visitors should both get preferential parking before the seniors.”
Students and faculty alike agree on the fact that it all comes down to priorities and needs.
“Obviously, it’s annoying to lose parking, but I get why they do it,” Sixth Former Jack Ford stated. “Students know where to park off-campus much better than the parents do, so it makes sense that the parents get to use the parking lots for special events.”
“If we’re having an open house event, we cannot have prospective parents looking for parking. The priority is the visitors,” Dean of Students Mr. Luqman Kolade said. “It’s not that the seniors are not that important; it’s just a matter of a hierarchy of needs, and the biggest priority on a day like that is that visitors to campus have space.”
In fact, the hierarchy not only affects students, with teachers sometimes losing their parking spots during end-of-year events. The school has addressed this problem by opening the grass lot on Panmure, which has been an efficient solution for the days when students do not have access to the Red Lot.
“The seniors often get relocated to the grass lot on Panmure, which we have recently opened up to alleviate pressure on the seniors,” Mr. Leech said. “The lot is manned by public safety, and weather permitting, the lot will always be accessible when the Red Lot is closed. This year, I am making sure every space in the Red Lot is filled every day.”
“I think last year, parking may have been more of a problem, but the grass lot is very helpful this year. It’s not a bad lot, especially considering there’s nothing truly special about a parking lot.”
SETH VIRMANI ’26
Students have found the grass lot extremely helpful.
“The school is starting to open the grass lot, making it significantly easier to find parking when the Red Lot is closed,” Ford said. “If the Panmure [lot] is full, though, it can be hard to find parking since most of the streets around Haverford have two-hour parking limits.”
Building on Ford’s point, Sixth Former Seth Virmani said, “I think last year, parking may have been more of a problem, but the grass lot is very helpful this year. It’s not a bad lot, especially considering there’s nothing truly special about a parking lot.”