Alexis Govertsen
Connector Contributor
UMass Lowell commuter students agree that the campus parking is negatively impacting their experience at the university.
Students who have attended and commuted to the university for as long as six-seven years and as short as two years agree that UMass Lowell is supportive of its large commuter population when on campus, however they are displeased with the amount of parking and the accessibility of the lots. They think changes need to be made to improve their experiences getting to campus.
Computer science student, Nikita Kirik, has been commuting to UMass Lowell for six or seven years, now. He has been a full-time student and is now part-time. When he began at the university as a full-time student and employee, Kirik said his experience, “was very negative, because I had to park on South Campus, and most of my classes were on North. That was rough because shuttles were unreliable.”
Kirik said that when it came to the time to re-enroll for classes it was “a little frustrating to plan around work schedules,” due to the extra time it takes to shuttle or walk to and from classes and South Campus on top of the time it takes to drive back home. He said, “it clearly seems like there should be more parking on North or they gotta figure something out.”
As another North Campus major, sophomore business administration student, Sean Peterson, has been commuting to the university for two years. Peterson said, “I like driving to campus, but the shuttle system makes it terrible.” All his classes are on North Campus and he said, “I got to leave my house like an hour and a half before I even have class just to get there on time,” due to the shuttle system and not being allowed to park on North Campus as an underclassman.
Although he is unhappy with the parking, Peterson said, “Once I’m there, I feel like I belong there.”
On the opposite side of the campus compass, Holly Focht is a senior nursing student who has been active in campus life for all four of her years at the university. In her experience with on campus affairs, clubs and activities, Focht said, “I think a lot of different organizations kind of made it clear that being a commuter was normal and accepted and that you don’t have to live on campus.”
While her experience on campus is good, Focht said, “I think my only issue I ever had with [commuting] was underclassmen can’t park on North… it was a pain to either have to take the shuttle or walk between South and North Campus when there’s parking lots that had open spaces right there. I just didn’t have badge access to that.”
Jessica O’Brien, another South Campus student, is a junior year public health major. She transferred to UMass Lowell her spring semester freshman year. O’Brien said, “I think it’s pretty
