Ongoing construction of the Integrative Shiley STEM Facility at USD has contributed to parking issues on campus, leaving some students dissatisfied with parking availability and policies.
USD senior Katherine Wronski felt the effects of the parking shortage when the West Parking Lot reached capacity and a university employee directed her to park in a designated tow-away spot near school buildings.
“[The employee told me] we have to do this because of the engineering school construction,” Wronski said. “Now the law school parking lot doesn’t allow people to park there anymore.”
A USD spokesperson said ongoing construction projects have temporarily reduced parking by about 500 commuter and proximity parking spaces.
The university expects about 350 parking spaces to reopen in fall 2027 when construction is complete. USD said Mobility Services — the campus department responsible for managing parking, transportation and space scheduling — has previously offered additional parking spaces, including lots typically reserved for resident students at Alcalá Vista and Manchester Village areas.
During the first few weeks of the semester, the university opened a gate connecting the West Lot to the Alcala Park West facility to provide overflow parking when the lot was full.
The university also anticipates around 35 additional West Lot parking spaces becoming available in the coming weeks.
Gabrielle Berger, a USD senior with a West Lot parking permit, was frustrated by the lack of clarity surrounding on campus parking.
“Carpool parking hasn’t been clear … me and my friends carpool a lot and appealing those tickets has been pretty frustrating,” Berger said.
USD sophomore Aidan Simmons recommended a more significant change to the parking system.
“Knock down the alumni center and make that a parking lot or even make parking lots underneath buildings,” Simmons said.
USD receives student feedback through its Parking and Mobility Committee, which meets quarterly and includes faculty, staff and student representatives.
“Student input has contributed to several initiatives, including identifying opportunities for additional commuter parking spaces around campus, reviewing and supporting parking fee proposals, recommending improvements to the parking portal as part of the university’s website redesign, and successfully advocating for the release of 320 parking permit upgrades from annual West permits to annual commuter permits,” the spokesperson said.
Mobility Services said that it regularly monitors parking occupancy by lot and hour to identify demand and available capacity. The university encourages students to use the Parking and Tram tab on the MySanDiego app, which shows parking availability in student lots and real-time campus tram locations.
While students can track university transportation through the MySanDiego app, some students say the app is imperfect.
“The app is pretty accurate overall, but sometimes it underestimates the tram time,” said USD first-year and commuter Alexandra Neri.
As construction continues, the university said that it will continue to monitor parking patterns, evaluate available capacity and make adjustments where possible as construction progresses.
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