University of LouisvilleParking Summary

Written by Annie Muller

Annie Muller

Hometown

LaGrange, Ky.

Major

French and English

View all previous student authors

U of L is a commuter school, and that involves a lot cars. There are more than 16,000 students who drive to the University every day—talk about a parking nightmare! The only parking lot big enough to hold that many cars is at the football stadium. Papa John's Cardinal Stadium is down the street from campus and is where commuter students park. To get to campus from there, there’s a shuttle bus that runs between the stadium and main campus, but this can result in a waiting time that has been known to make students late for class. Needless to say, there are a lot of complaints about the U of L parking system.

Students who have 90 credits can get a green parking pass, which allows them to park in the Floyd Street Garage with the resident students or in one of a few other green parking lots that dot the campus. Sounds great, right? Well, the problem is that there aren't enough spaces for everyone with a green pass, so you usually just end up parking at the stadium anyway. It's pretty much a lose-lose situation. The only way you can win is if you live on campus because resident students are pretty much guaranteed a spot in the Floyd Street Garage. It's highly unlikely that parking at U of L will improve anytime in the near future—the University has said it is working on a plan, but the students have yet to see it.