As of 2020 Texas Tech is a 1,839 acre campus with 31,957 undergraduates enrolled. On this campus there is no free parking for students, very little pay-to-park parking that the students can access all day, and little to no free visitor parking on campus. For commuters there are 5 different lots to pick from when it comes to trying to buy a parking pass, all ranging from $42-$158, not to mention the cost of having to park at your own resident hall being $255 all for just one academic year. With tuition being about $9,000 for in-state students that don't live on campus, parking is just an extra expense that should be included with in the tuition. Especially when students on campus, all freshman are forced to live on campus for at least a year, have to pay almost an extra $10,000 in tuition costs for the academic year. There are so many lots on campus that students are not allowed to park in during the day, with the closest commuter lot being half a mile from the center of campus and the furthest being 1.5 miles from the center of campus, many students have opted to try and park in lots where they will get ticketed with the hopes of not being caught. As of 2014 there were only about 20,000 parking spots available on campus, not just for students. How does the Tech campus expect to accommodate all of the students, faculty, staff, and visitors without even enough spaces for its students?

If Texas Tech was to make the library parking lot or the band parking lot in the spring free, or even the rec center parking lot free for students, this would help alleviate a lot of aggression the students have due to parking. Alternatively, I believe there needs to be more parking added just due to numbers, if one of these lots could be close, inside the loop, and free, this would help the students make it to class on time and alleviate aggression the students have toward the parking services. 

If we win, I will try and work with parking and transportation services to see what can be done about adding new lots on campus so that parking is not as much of an issue for students. I will also try and push them toward removing the cost for some lots for students.