As Winter is coming up, now is the time more than ever where students don’t want to have to go out and drive. Unfortunately, commuter students, faculty and staff have to do this every day just to get to class! One of the major changes that Stockton has imposed for its students and staff is the new parking permits. As a proud new owner of a car, I thought I was going to get a sticker to go onto the corner of my car just like in previous years. This year, Stockton University has made it so that the parking permits are now hanging decals that are placed on the mirror of your car. I didn’t really care much for them, but I knew that I would have to use it. To me, the hanging parking permits seemed to be a hassle when I had to go out. It was annoying to have hanging and was also against the law. Students have been pulled over due to the fact that the decals are an obstruction of view and they have received tickets for it. Stockton then sent out an email stating that students would have to remove the tags so that they wouldn’t be charged with a ticket. This, especially for commuters, it’s a bit annoying and tedious.
(Courtesy: Stockton University)
Jessica Heminghaus, a commuter at Stockton, expressed her feelings toward the situation. “As a commuter, having the hanging tags can be slightly annoying because you have to take them off and put them back on whenever you drive. You would have had to read the email to know about the change and about removing the tags. In my opinion, having the stickers would be easier. All you would have to do is put it on your window and wouldn’t worry about it. That’s what we did in high school too.”
Although not all Stockton students are commuters, there are those who might need to go out for a fun night or even just grocery shopping. Amanda Lally, a Seaview resident, stated that having the hanging tags is actually better than the stickers. “Honestly, I don’t mind using the tag because the parking sticker is harder to get off of the car and it leaves a mark on the car window. The hangtag is much easier to put in your car but, at the same time, it is annoying to have because if you forget to put it back on like I do sometimes, you might get ticketed.”
Although the majority of students may agree that the hanging tags are annoying, there is a perfectly good reason as to why it was implemented. Mike Sullivan, the Parking and Transportation manager here at Stockton, was nice enough to have a phone call with me asking why we switched from the stickers to the hangtag: “Commuters, staff, and faculty all use cars when coming to school. Not everyone is able to use the same car everyday so, they have to switch cars. I had gotten multiple requests from students and faculty about how many vehicles can be registered and was told that there should be more. While residential students had one car, commuters, faculty and staff use up to 5 different vehicles. With the parking tags, we are able to make enough so that everyone, no matter how many cars they drive, were able to park on campus.”
In the end, the hanging tags at Stockton aren’t the best, but we are lucky enough to have such a great faculty here at Stockton who try to make the best situation for everyone.