Students living at University Village and Schilletter Village will soon be notified by the Department of Residence of a plan to correct an error with their parking fees.

After some confusion, university officials decided the first car parking fee will be included in residents’ rent for the upcoming year.

Students will be notified of the correction through a letter sent out Monday or Tuesday, said Kate Bruns, communication specialist for the Department of Residence. Emails were also sent out Friday, she said.

In May, students were given notice the fee for a permit would have to be paid directly to the Department of Public Safety, Bruns said.

This occurred because the Department of Residence could not keep up with the maintenance of the parking lot, and residents were having problems with DPS not being able to monitor the parking lot on a regular basis.

Control of the parking lot was then transferred to DPS, Bruns said. The students were required to obtain a permit from DPS, rather than having the fee included within their rent.

The confusion surrounding these problems was addressed to the Department of Residence and DPS officials at a public meeting Thursday night. More than 100 residents attended the meeting. Currently, there are 197 occupied units in Schilletter Village and 313 occupied units in University Village.

In addition to these problems, students noticed their rent per month, as stated in a handout from the Department of Residence Director Randy Alexander, still included the parking fee.

The parking fee for the first car remained in the rent, and since it was such a small amount, the accounting office didn’t catch it, Bruns said.

On Friday morning, Alexander met with university officials from DPS and the Department of Business and Finance to see where the error occurred, Bruns said. The errors in calculation have been identified, Alexander said.

The Department of Residence is in the process of holding meetings with student residents regarding communication issues, Bruns said. “I think anytime you have an opportunity to communicate with students in person, it’s better,” Bruns said.

DPS and the Department of Residence officials said they are willing to work with students, so this problem does not happen again.

“[DPS and the Department of Residence] will be going to the students [regarding] how to proceed with notification in our follow-up meeting because of the misunderstandings before,” said Doug Houghton, DPS program manager.

Feng Chen, graduate student in computer and electrical engineering, received an email from the Department of Residence Friday about the changes.

“I’m pleased with the prompt response and how university officials tried to correct it,” Chen said.

He said he also wants the communication to be better among students, the University Family Housing Council and university officials.

Students who have cars on campus currently go to DPS to get a permit for their car, Houghton said. Previously, residents from University Village and Schilletter Village paid their parking fees for the first car through rent and purchased a permit for the second car for $25.

DPS waived this year’s planned 26 percent fee increase for the first car, Bruns said. Students who have already paid the $72 will receive credit on their university bill by the end of this week.

Alexander said in the 2004—2005 academic year, the parking fees will be taken out of the rent, and students will have to pay it directly to DPS. The lease will be changed to show the corrections.

A follow-up meeting will be held at the Fredriksen Court Community Center at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.