On campus parking permits to be allocated via lottery

Students will no longer have to set an alarm for 9 a.m. in the middle of the summer if they want a campus parking permit for the next year.

Instead, the University has changed the process to a lottery format, based on criticism and feedback from students.

In the past, parking permits have been allocated to each class on a first-come, first-served basis. Last July, 8,000 students applied for 400 permits, which ran out less than one minute after online applications became available.

But Randy Young, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, said students will now have to register at any time between June 24 and July 5, then are placed into a lottery.

Young said the decision was made based on community feedback and conversations with student government.

“We’re trying our best to meet the demands of the student body,” Young said.

“It caused inconvenience for a good portion of the audience who wants to register because not everyone can get to a computer or have online services where they are.”

Young said due to UNC’s large global scope, many students do not have the ability to register as soon as the application opens.

“It was presumptuous to think everyone was on the Eastern Time Zone,” he said.

Young said it also strains the system to have a large number of people registering at once.

But the lottery will still filter applicants based on their year and how many spots are allocated to each class.

Students will be notified of the status of their permit by July 10. They can then choose to purchase the permit they have been allotted or they can decide to go on the waiting list for their first choice if they don’t receive it.

Senior Daniel Heyward said this change shows the University is using lotteries as a selection process more frequently.

“This is similar to the ticket lottery,” he said.

“I think it takes away from the overall effort that people have to put into getting what they want.”

Junior Emily Kelly was unable to get a parking spot last summer when she tried to register two hours after the application was opened. As a member of the UNC swimming team, she needed parking by the pool and ended up using hardship parking to get her spot.

“A lot of people don’t even realize when its time to register, but a lot of us actually need a spot in a certain place,” she said.

Contact the desk editor at university@dailytarheel.com.