A quarter on campus gets students 15 minutes of parking at a meter, but downtown, that quarter is good for an hour.
The price to park at a meter on campus is 25 cents for 15 minutes, or $1 an hour, said Aaron Kane, manager of parking.
This cost is 75 cents more an hour than parking a downtown, as an hour costs 25 cents, said Mark Strobel, a dispatcher for the Bowling Green Police Division.
The month of December is also a parking holiday downtown, so now parking is free.
“Even though the 25 cents an hour still is quite a bit lower than a lot of other areas, it would still be able to give us a little bit more revenue,” Strobel said.
A parking ticket at a meter in the city is $5, compared to $10 on campus. But in the city, the ticket will increase to $15 if unpaid for five days, while University tickets do not increase.
People only have to pay for the meters during the week because the city does not monitor the meters during the weekend, Strobel said.
Junior Aaron Hirt does not have a parking pass and instead uses the meters and pay-to-park lots on campus.
“I feel I pay plenty of money to the college to attend the University,” Hirt said. “Considering $747 of our tuition is going toward a ‘general fee’ and $60 for ‘special student facility fee,’ I feel that no more of my money needs to be spent on parking.”
A quarter used to be good for a half hour on campus, but about three years ago the price increased after a group of consultants recommended it to “be more in line with other schools,” Kane said.
“We actually had consultants come in and look over our entire operation and make recommendations through the entire operation,” Kane said.
The raise in price was recommended by the consultants. Kent State and Miami University both charge a dollar an hour to park on campus while Cleveland State University charges $2 an hour. Ohio University, on the other hand, charges 75 cents an hour.
Hirt said that the cost to park at the meters is one of “convenience.”
“I feel enough of our money is spent on tuition and fees,” Hirt said. “Parking can simply be factored into that ‘general fee.’”
