Reporter

CSU Bakersfield is currently working on plans to expand its parking lots to accommodate more students and decrease overcrowding.
Parking has long been an issue on campus for students and staff alike. At any given time, cars can be seen desperately circling the lots, waiting for an opening.
“There needs to be more parking on campus,” said Chris Williams, a chemistry major who parks at school every day. “I come to school 20 minutes early just to get parking.”
He is one of many students who now have to schedule extra time to find a spot. The alternative for many is simply being late to class.
According to Patrick Jacobs, assistant Vice President of facilities management, “there has been discussion relative to the need for a new lot,” but planning is still in the very early stages.
Work has been done on lots K and A to potentially expand them, but Jacobs says taking on the projects is now a matter of cost.
“It ranks pretty high on campus priority, but we have to pay for it,” said Jacobs.
A lot still needs to happen before the new lots arrive – funding needs to be secured, design needs to be approved, and the actual construction can take between 12 and 15 months, according to Jacobs. Additionally, the school is waiting to see how the conversion from quarters to semesters will affect parking.
In the meantime, students like business management major Jon Wier are making it work.
“I feel like parking is pretty decent,” said Wier, who only expressed a desire for the new lots to be closer to campus, because “it’s the walking time that’s the worst.”
Others have suggested building up instead of out with the installment of a parking garage, but that kind of project would undoubtedly be a much more ambitious undertaking.