How the Worm Has Turned

When I attended the University of Maryland at College Park at the turn of the century, one of the key issues with lots of students was the fact that there was a shortage of two things for students, parking and housing. Now the administration at the time seemed to assume that with the demand to attend the university at the time, the problems would eventually wash themselves into normality and there wouldn't be any problems in accomodating everyone. Unfortunately that wasn't the case. At the time I attended the University, I was one of the many commuters onto campus. That meant that as a Freshman I was assigned to the farthest parking lot on campus, the infamous Lot 4 which was so far off of the main part of the campus that many people struggled to catch the on-campus bus to avoid the long walk to the center of campus.

Now I was never one to shy away from walking and that was rarely ever my complaint about the parking assignment for freshman and incoming students but it seemed that as the campus grew in popularity (and prestige) more and more people sought to attend the University and so while demand grew, accomodations and space remained relatively the same. So what do you do for commuters? Simple, add more spots by shrinking the average size of the existing parking spots. What this meant was that when you parked your car, you barely had enough space to open your doors to get out. I remember one time being wedged in so tight (because people running late didn't have time to adjust their parking) that I had to climb into the car through my hatchback. Imagine if I didn't have that capability in my car.

For students on campus that wasn't a guarantee of space either. I remember some of my friends who lived on campus being assigned to a room with three other people, living in a room meant for two. Now seeing as how the campus seemed to adopt the Ikea style of economy of space, it wasn't a bad thing but still, four people in a room meant for two was a bit much. And though lots more space was bought up and built up by the campus, it always seemed that they were behind the curve. In my final year at Maryland the campus was so overcrowded and so little dorm space existed that the University bought out a hotel for the semester and again put up multiple students in rooms meant for far less than they accomodated. Now costs for dorms weren't cheap by any means and parents were understandably irate at having their kids living in a hotel a couple of miles off of campus when they had paid enough for them to live on campus.

At that time at least the understanding was that for Freshman and Sophomores the possibility existed that they would be bumped into lesser accomodations because they didn't have enough time on campus and preference would be given to upperclassmen. Well the days of those assumptions seem to be going out the door too. Now the University is making noises about accomodating incoming students while not guaranteering housing for upperclassmen. Due to the housing crunch on campus, the University is indicating that upperclassmen will now be responsible for finding their own accomodations outside of the University system. So now we're adding to the commuting problem (which is even worse now) while asking students to pay for housing off campus. I like where this is going. I don't understand how the university can seem to 'stick it' to students like this. I guess the thinking is that incoming students and underclassmen still need guidance and experience in living on their own. That plus the fact that they will be willing to spend more I guess as debt rates for new students is higher than someone who has been around for a while. I guess it won't be long before students are sleeping seven to a room and cars are stacked on top of one another.