Many students were pleased to hear that Sonoma State University would finally open its classes as they would slowly transition back into their in person classes curriculum. But along with this decision to slowly slide away from  online Zoom learning, there comes one problem that many Seawolves didn’t have to deal with during last year’s online learning. The stress of on-campus parking, more specifically parking permits and parking tickets, has now returned to many students as a reality, where many of them did not have to worry about this a year ago. 

As many students return this year to campus, many of them have seen the stress of having to spend extra money for a permit. This, as well as potential parking tickets, seems to be one thing that many students forgot about as they were returning to campus. 

“You know it’s funny you bring that up because about a year ago I totally forgot about this aspect of returning to campus,” says Riley Bierbaum. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m very happy that we finally get to return to classrooms where I can see all my classmates. But it actually didn’t hit me until I finally moved in the area and I slowly realized that I had to spend an extra $100 a semester just to park. But I mean it is what it is and I would say it’s worth it as I have been waiting to finally return to learning in a physical classroom.” 

At the beginning of the Fall 2021 semester, Sonoma State announced its decision to grant free parking to all Seawolves that are living on campus. 

However, students who are living off-campus still need to purchase their parking permits, which has many stressing out due to a small increase in a general parking permit. 

Back in the 2018-2019 school year, general parking was at a low of just $102. Now with each school year going by, general parking seems to be increasing about $8 a year, where this year has caught up to $126. 

For next semester, parking permits are expected to be about $135. It was also stressed by SSU’s “Transportation and Parking Services (TAPS)” that the decision to make parking free for on-campus students has not affected the cost rates at all. 

With many students thinking deeply about permits and tickets, TAPS parking field supervisor Cody Smith had much advice to give for students who have to buy parking permits this semester. 

“We would like to reiterate the importance of ensuring you have a valid permit on display when parking on campus,” explains Smith. “Often, we see students, faculty and staff parking on campus with an expired temporary permit or a receipt for their permit in lieu of a valid permit. In the event that your temporary permit expires, we recommend that you email us to request another. 

“From there we can determine if there was an issue related to shipping or if there was other information missing from your parking account that may be attributed to why you have not received your physical hangtag. An extended temporary permit will be provided to you after notifying us that yours has expired and in some cases, a replacement permit can be sent to campus.”