Amherst CollegeParking Summary

Written by Lem Atanga McCormick

Lem Atanga McCormick

Hometown

Chicago, IL

Major

Pre-Med (Biology and French)

View all previous student authors

The students and the administration at Amherst take the parking situation here very seriously. Realizing that many students choose to bring their cars to campus, the College juggles the available spaces each year and changes parking lot assignments in order to ensure that student lots will not be too small to accommodate the number of cars. What’s more, the cost of parking permits here is significantly lower than at other comparable institutions. The parking regulations are a bit cumbersome to read and learn, but that doesn’t change the overall situation: There are almost always enough spaces, the fines are not that bad, and campus police really try to be helpful and responsive to student needs (to a certain extent, of course). There is also a parking garage within walking distance of campus.

Some of the complaints about the parking situation here involve the relatively large distance that some students have to walk back to their rooms after having parked their cars in student lots. Few students have had their cars broken into, so they call for the expansion of available locations for students to park on campus. The campus police are usually finicky about enforcing the parking regulations, and the majority of student drivers have felt it in their checking accounts.