It has become a huge issue on college campuses across the nation and has been a difficult one to fix. What could “it” be? Parking is one issue that many students, freshmen to senior, have to deal with.

Here at Iowa State there is hardly enough parking to accommodate the 28,000 students. Now, not all of those students have cars, but a lot of them do and the majority have nowhere to park their cars. It is an ongoing issue that doesn’t seem to get resolved.

This problem of nowhere to park often leads to other problems such as tickets and towing. It is something that I believe should be easy to fix.

There are times when parking officials are quick to give out tickets and are not tolerant of those who don’t follow the rules.

Then there are times when I see a car parked in a 30-minute spot for three days. How do the individuals determine when or when not to give a ticket?

According to the Web Site for the Department of Public Safety Parking Division, it’s all based on the person giving the ticket to decide whether or not you deserve one.

You would think most people who work for the parking department would give out tickets whenever necessary.

Tickets help to fund some maintenance such as snow removal in the parking lots and can possibly finance new parking lots in the future.

As if it isn’t hard enough to find parking spots, during the winter it becomes an even more difficult task.

The parking lots don’t get plowed and if they do, it is done poorly. Rare parking spots become even more rare and eventually disappear.

Over the past few months I’ve been here, I’ve heard a lot of people who receive tickets complain about them. The parking [division] simply has no sympathy. “You broke the rule so you pay the price” seems to be the motto. The signs are clearly stated where you can and cannot park and if you choose to take that risk and park in the wrong area, you most likely will get caught.

Iowa State is not the only place that has this problem. Friends from other schools such as the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa express the same anger with the parking situation at their schools. It is something that a lot of students here on campus think can easily be fixed with the right person in charge.

My solution to less parking tickets would be to provide more parking. There are plenty of lots here around campus but most of them require a pass or a permit.

There’s parking available at the Memorial Union, but that’s not always a convenient place for people to park and it costs money. Several other students that I’ve spoken with think that there should be places all around campus to park for free.

We already pay enough money to come to school and live here, so don’t we deserve a break? Employees that work for the department say that permits are a way for the school to make money and tickets are a way for the university to make money.

 That is great, but only if that money is going towards something that is going to benefit the students.

Another issue involved with parking is visitor parking. Most universities that I have been to other than Iowa State have lots specifically for visitor parking.

While we do have that here, it’s no surprise that they are going to charge the visitors to park. A lot of visitors take the risk and park wherever they can find a spot so they do not have to pay.

There is an rule that a visitor can earn up to three tickets and be exempt from paying them. It would seem easier to me instead of taking the time to write the tickets, waste the paper, and time of the employee, to raise funds and have a visitor parking lot that is free.

Parking is a serious issue to students. However, it is not so much of an issue to faculty and staff who run this university. It’s frustrating and something that students should not have to worry about.

There are easy solutions to fixing the problem, somebody just needs to take initiative and devise a plan.

Hopefully in the next few years, when a college student like myself — and many others here — can find five things that bothers him or her about Iowa State, parking will not be one of them.

Jessica Worley is a freshman in preprofessional health programs.