With close to 35,000 students enrolled, finding a parking spot on campus has become more difficult, according to Elizabeth Dobson, a junior in history.

“[We] definitely need more parking spaces on campus,” Dobson said. “There are more people and it’s harder to find a spot to park in. I live within walking distance this year, but when I did drive I was almost late to my classes all the time because I couldn’t find a spot.”

According to David Gregory, parking services manager for Transportation, the number of permits issued has not exceeded the number of available spaces.

“There are approximately 19,000 parking spaces on campus, but we’ve only issued 17,053 permits,” Gregory said.

He also said that these numbers include both faculty and students.

Kateria Poe, a freshman in first year college, said it’s almost impossible to find a parking space on campus.

“It’s not even worth it to buy a permit,” Poe said. “You have to drive around forever just to find a spot, and then you usually have to walk a good distance just to get wherever you’re going. You might as well not pay for the permit and walk, because you’re going to be walking anyway.”

While there are no short-term plans to increase parking on campus, Transportation hopes for future funding in order to provide students with more parking spots, according to Ryan Givens, facility planner.

“If you’ve ever walked around campus, you can see that space is extremely limited,” Givens said. “The only way parking space is going to increase is if parking decks are built, and funding for that is very limited.”

Givens said Transportation tries to meet the parking needs of students, but most of the problems all come back to a lack of space and funding.

“The proper funding is key, but without space to build parking decks, the funding isn’t going to do us much good,” he said.

Scott Darr, a freshman in aerospace engineering, said he would prefer parking decks because they use space more efficiently than parking lots.

“With a parking deck, you can use the space above the ground,” Darr said. “If you just keep building parking lots, you’re going to waste a lot of available space, and it’s just going to cause more problems down the road.”

Cress Clippard, a sophomore in nuclear engineering, said he couldn’t get a parking permit this year, and hopes additional parking spaces are made so everyone who wants a permit can get one.

“The parking permit I was offered was only good for Centennial Campus, so it doesn’t do me any good,” Clippard said. “It’s a very far walk from my dorm to all my classes, so I wanted to drive to them, but there aren’t enough spots for me to park there. Hopefully they can build more parking spots so that every student can park near their classes.”

Givens said he hopes to meet student parking needs by having more parking spaces available in the future.

“We’re always hoping for more parking, and hopefully we can acquire the funding and the space to accomplish this,” he said.