On May 1, prices for parking at UFV went up for both staff and students. Per semester, students will now pay $180, which is a 12.5 per cent increase from the $160 they used to pay. For monthly parking, students will need to pay $60 instead of $52, which is a 15.38 per cent increase. For employees, the monthly costs have also gone up by 20 per cent, from $25 to $30. The yearly fees for employees will now be $360.
According to UFV’s 2020/2021 Consolidated Budget Plan, parking fees currently bring in a revenue of $1,220,000 a year for UFV’s Ancillary Services. The expenses of parking services, such as salaries and operating costs, come to $239,000 a year, as well as the $170,000 a year contribution towards “parking lot capital repayment.” This puts the parking fund balance at $811,000.
Students commuting to UFV by car are adjusting to this seemingly unknown rise in parking fees. From interviewing some students on campus, the general consensus was one of surprise that the fees have gone up and speculation on why.
“Yeah, it has definitely gone up quite a bit,” said UFV student Kaily Clarke. “It definitely gets quite expensive, especially if you don’t have a parking pass.”
“It’s kind of annoying, considering we are already paying for tuition, books, and gas on top of that; it is adding up especially, with gas prices skyrocketing,” said UFV student Serema Storie. “So the parking [fees] that are increasing is definitely going to be a stress that students don’t need.”
Cameron Roy, director of ancillary services, explained that before the pandemic and the ensuing school closures, there was already an expectation for the prices to go up. Roy explained that over the last few years, the cost for operations have gone up due to different expenses such as parking lot repairs, line painting, snow removal, and new parking management technology.
“These rate changes will supply necessary resources to meet parking needs now and in the future, while offsetting increased operating costs,” said Darren McDonald, the communications specialist at UFV. McDonald said that these increases in fee rates will also provide the means to buy new parking meters, an “added parking capacity at Building 1041 in Chilliwack, and a new online permit registration system replacing physical hang tags with license plate recognition technology.”
Roy said there will be a new app called Offstreet launching in fall 2022 for students to easily use to pay for parking by entering in their license plate numbers. This new app will be posted on the UFV website at https://www.ufv.ca/parking/ for students to find.
Both Roy and McDonald confirmed that this is not going to be an annual increase for students and employees; rather, the increases are to pay for the increasing operating costs for parking.
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.
