Lamont Johnson said more parking meters at Northern Virginia Community College’s Woodbridge campus would make his life easier.

The 19-year-old, in his first semester of college, said the lack of metered parking on campus makes him late to class. “Most of the time I am rushing into class and am made late because I can’t find an open parking space with a meter,” said Johnson.

Though metered parking spaces on the campus normally fill up faster, the sale of parking passes for students to park in the regular lot is on the rise this semester.

The college freshman admits he didn’t buy a pass and was fined earlier this semester for parking without one. “I paid the $50 fine and that’s about the cost of a new permit, so I just park in the meters,” he said.

Students who purchase the $75-per-semester parking pass are allowed to park anywhere on the campus parking lot, except the metered parking lots, which charge up to 75 cents per hour.

They also don’t worry about broken or out-of-service parking meters, something Johnson said is a regular problem.

Sean Corron works in the Woodbridge campus parking services office and says the sale of permits at Woodbridge is up 8 percent over last year, though he could not provide last year’s sales data.

He also added that approval from a college official is needed to release the information, which could take as long as a week.

Additionally, several phone calls and e-mails to a campus public information official, were not returned for this story.

As the fall semester reached its half-way point, students continued to purchase permits, he said.

“By the end of the semester, we may have reached 10 percent over the number of permits sold last fall,” said Corron.

Because enrollment varies by semester, Corron said permit sales are more accurately measured annually.

More students enroll during the fall semester, but numbers decline during the spring. The summer session brings the lowest number of students to the campus, he added.

Before students purchase a parking permit, they must go through Ellen Johnson. She currently works at the parking services office on the Woodbridge campus.

In recent years, Johnson said she’s noticed an increase of students purchasing parking permits online. But that doesn’t stop them from coming into the office.

“Most times they come in and say their ‘parking pass was lost in the mail’ or ‘it was sent to the wrong address,’ so we issue them a temporary pass to use for seven days,” said Johnson. “After that, they need to speak with an administrator.”

Parking fines on all six NOVA campuses range from $25 to $300, depending on the violation.

Improperly displaying a permit costs $25; exceeding the meter’s allotted time limit costs $45; parking without a pass in the “B lot,” or student lot, costs $75, according to NOVA’s web site.

The most expensive fine, use of a stolen permit or misuse of a permit, costs $300.

If fines are not paid within 30 days, Corron said the school submits the violator’s information to a collection agency that will attempt to recover the fine.

Johnson said students complain about the permit price, but NOVA passes cost 60 percent less than parking permits at nearby George Mason University.

Students there pay $125 per semester — $225 annually — to park. A pass for the parking deck costs $340, while temporary permits range from $6 to $50.

Meanwhile, at Woodbridge, Lamont Johnson still uses metered parking.

“Maybe I’ll get one next semester, but for now, I’m going to fight it out with these meters,” said Johnson.

By: Uriah Kiser

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