Residents of University Village and Schilletter Village are paying for parking fees differently these days due to new parking regulations.

The change was made when control of the parking lots switched from the Department of Residence to the Department of Public Safety.

Kate Bruns, communication specialist for the Department of Residence, said when the Department of Residence was in charge of parking permits, prices were included in the students’ rents.

The Department of Residence was also responsible for enforcing parking permits, and each year they paid out a sum to the Department of Public Safety for those parking permits, Bruns said.

“Before, it was just a manner of who was handling the money … Now that DPS is in charge, the students are responsible for paying [the fees] directly,” Bruns said. “This agreement was reached because it helps us save money; rent would have been higher if [the Department of Residence] maintained the lot.”

Emrah Simsek, a resident of University Village and a member of the University Housing Council, dislikes the new policy.

“When I signed my lease this year, there was no mention of this change or the mention of fees being raised,” said Simsek, a graduate student in mechanical engineering from Turkey. “Now tenants have no other option, because the lease was already signed.”

Simsek said he received a letter in the mail from the Department of Public Safety and then from the Department of Residence about the change.

“The Department of Public Safety wants to make us pay $79 for the first car and $72 for the second car,” he said.

Before the Department of Public Safety got involved, the first car was free to park, Simsek said. If residents had a second car, he said they had to pay an additional $25.

“It makes me upset because I don’t know what the money is going toward,” he said. “Maintenance in the buildings isn’t being kept up as well, and the buildings are falling apart. It doesn’t look like they’re trying to keep their tenants here.”

Doug Houghton, program manager at the Department of Public Safety, disagrees.

“It’s a misunderstanding between the students and us,” Houghton said. “They have always paid for the second car payment.”

Houghton said other students living on campus are not allowed to bring two cars.

The exception has always been at University Village and Schilletter Village.

“The only people who will see this difference is university housing,” he said.

“Now, instead of paying for a car out of rent, you only pay if you have a car.”

Houghton also said the Department of Public Safety began to control and patrol the University Village and Schilletter Village lots last spring.

“In the fall your regular enforcement will be out there, and students will be expected to have permits,” he said.

Simsek does not support the new fees.

“Most of the students who live here are international students and graduate students that can’t afford these extra fees,” Simsek said.

“Iowa State isn’t making us feel welcome.”

Simsek said there is a petition going around. It currently has 120 signatures on it.

Jiang Huang, a resident of Schilletter Village, wants the option to move out due to the increased parking charges.

“We are asking for the right to rethink our lease,” Huang, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering, said. “We should be given the choice to move out since we weren’t notified properly.”