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Like a vulture circles the sky for its next meal, students circle the lots at Western looking for a place to park. Unlike the vulture, that will almost certainly share his find with his friends, students that are not fortunate enough to find a spot must move on the to next lot and join the circle again.

Population growth at Western, along with construction on campus, has made parking spaces a prime piece of real estate.

Senior business major Chelsea Taylor thinks something needs to be done.

Graphic by Sara Baum

“Parking is miserable, especially when it snows because people can’t see the lines so they take up almost two spots to park,” she said.

Snow has also made overflow parking in the grass unavailable for students this semester.

Western’s Chief of Police Jonathan Kelley disagrees.

“There is typically plenty of parking available across campus throughout the spring semester,” Kelley said. “This spring we have seen available parking across campus.”

This semester Parking and Security Services issued 4,175 first vehicle general parking stickers for the 2,140 general parking spaces.

“It is my professional opinion, based on the number of available spaces across campus currently, that another parking lot would be underutilized most of the time,” Kelley said.

Still, during peak times, students scavenge the lots for an open space. As Western shows continuing growth, a student committee led by Student Governor, Dillon Harp, has been working on recommendations for parking.

Dean of Student Affairs Judy Grimes, who meets with the committee, assured that Western is looking forward.

“There is a need for both additional commuter parking and for residential parking,” Grimes said.

The committee is discussing a variety of options to develop a long-term solution.

Grimes added that completion of construction projects will help alleviate some of the parking problems.

“When the new Chiefs facility opens, there will be additional spaces available,” she said. “As we work towards a new residence hall complex, there will be an additional parking lot built as well.”

These new lots may be the only relief students see in the near future.

Vice President of Financial Planning and Administration Mel Klinkner explained. Budget cuts from the state and tuition freezes make it hard to find funding for construction.

“The only way to get additional parking is to have revenue come in for that area [parking],” Klinkner said.

“We charge minimal… [for parking],” Klinkner said.

Student parking passes are included in the facilities access fee.

Unofficial numbers were released at the Jan. 28 Board of Governors meeting, marking this spring as the eleventh straight semester of record enrollment at Western.

Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Dr. Jeanne Daffron presented the following numbers to the board. The number of students at Western this spring went up 8 percent, totaling over 5,100 compared to last spring. The number of credit hours being taken also went up, totaling over 61,000 — a 7 percent increase from last spring. Final numbers will not be available until mid February.

Board of Governors’ Vice chair Kylee Strough gave some reasons for this continued growth.

Graphic by Sara Baum

Student Governor Dillon Harp gave other possible reasons for the continuing growth.

“The graduating classes in the area around Missouri Western have been increasing every year,” Harp said.

He explained that the number of students who choose Western because of its location, combined with Western’s affordable costs have made an impact.

“At $166.50 per credit hour Missouri Western is the fourth most affordable university in the state,” he said.

Tuition is currently frozen making affordability a double-edged sword.

“The increased enrollment is awesome because it does generate some additional funds,” said Vice President of Financial Planning and Administration Mel Klinkner.

Unfortunately, this added revenue does not cover all of the cuts in funding from the state, and the rising costs associated with insurance and retirement for faculty, along with the increasing costs of utilities.

“With no tuition increase, or state appropriation increase, it doesn’t take very long for you to be looking at some short comes,” Klinkner said. “It’s sad that we can’t be supported, at the level we need to be supported at, in order to really deal with the growth.”

Continued growth of this caliber can cause a variety of other problems — problems that students are dealing with already.

“The Western administration is well aware of the fact that as we continue increasing our student numbers, it fully realizes that [we} cannot look at the increase in isolation,” Vice President of Student Affairs, Esther Perález said.  

Parking, housing and growing class sizes are among the concerns of administrators and students alike. Perález and Dean of Student Affairs Judy Grimes assured that these concerns are being addressed.

“There is a need for both additional commuter parking and for residential parking,” Grimes said.

Grimes explained that a student committee, led by Student Governor Dillon Harp, has been working on recommendations for parking. The committee met to discuss a variety of options that will lead to a long-term solution.

Plans for additional housing are already in the works.

“The Housing Committee has recommended a new housing complex to be constructed, hopefully by the fall of 2010,” Grimes said.

Long-term planning is also being done to prepare for future growth.

“Administrators across campus are having discussions about where we would like to be in … five years,” Perález said.

Infrastructure is not the only area that Western must evaluate to accommodate future growth.  Examining future needs for additional faculty, police, maintenance and organizations to keep students engaged are just a few of Perález’s concerns.

“I believe that Western not only wants to grow its population, but it also wants to ensure the matriculation and graduation of the many deserving students it serves,“ she said. “If we do not begin engaging students when we have a smaller population, we lose an opportunity to prepare a strong infrastructure as we continue to grow.”