Laurentian University set to increase parking fees across all lots

Students, staff and faculty will be forking over more money to park on campus at Sudbury's Laurentian University this fall.

Parking fees will increase at the university as ofSeptember 1st.

Rates for reserved parking will go up by 24%.

Chief of Staff at Laurentian, Alex Freedman,says the rate increase for general parking will increase by 2.7%.

General parking is restricted to Lot 15, an area known as the pit.

Freedman says the board of governors specifically decided to keep rates lower for this area because it's mainly used by students and staff who may be on a budget.

"After meetings with our students groups, and faculty and staff groups, they all said look you need to keep in mind that our primary client is a student and a number of our staff members really are on tight budgets and we recognize that. So we made sure at least one lot was kept at this rate," Freedman said.

At least one parking lot kept at lowerrate

Laurentian student Joey Fyfe drives from Lively every day. He parks in the pit because he can't afford the luxury of parking closer to his classes.

"It's a little bit of a walk, you have to walk up a hill [from Lot 15, the pit]. During the winter it does get a little wash-boardy down here cause it is gravel parking, so they try and keep to the [maintenance]upkeep, but sometimes it does take a bit of a toll on your car." said Fyfe.

Freedman says the parking increase makes Laurentian comparable with other local institutions.

"Of course nobody wants to walk up the hill, but that's why we give people an option. If you're interested in paying the added fee you're welcome to get a spot up on top of the hill. If cost is a concern we still want you to be able to access campus, so that's why we provide this as an alternative." said Freedman.

General parking increasing by $6.40/year

General parking will increase from $238.50to $244.90 per year. Reserved parking was $505.60 for a year, but will soon rise to $627.

Freedman says the last time the cost of parking increased was last year, when rates went up 2%across all lots on campus.