As we prepare for several changes in our campus in the year ahead, including the opening of two new STEM@DRAKE buildings, we are also carefully evaluating the effect these and other changes will have on parking. For example, various faculty, staff, and students provided input into the development of the 27th Street promenade and parking lot that is part of the STEM@DRAKE project, noting the importance of adding a parking lot adjacent to the new buildings.

Likewise, the University Parking Committee is addressing a variety of topics including changes to the parking rate structure and how to better handle visitor parking—particularly as it relates to the impact on permit holders. While proposals for parking rate increases are never popular, periodic reviews of rates and usage are necessary to ensure we keep pace with the cost of providing parking. Since the parking rates were last changed at Drake—in 2009—we have seen a steady increase in maintenance and repair costs as well as parking rates at other institutions like ours (the annual rate at Creighton University, a Midwestern peer, is $341 for students and $375 for employees).

With input from the Parking Committee, Director of Public Safety & Operational Services Scott Law will be meeting with various representative bodies on campus to discuss possible parking rate options. Based on feedback from those meetings, further refinements and changes to parking rates and regulations will be finalized so that changes can be communicated before the end of the semester.

Watch for additional communication from Scott Law in OnCampus regarding this topic.

—Venessa Macro, Chief Administration Officer