FMU provides its students with seven parking lots of varying size. Unfortunately, not all the parking lots that are provided are convenient for everyone. Most students must walk anywhere between five to 15 minutes after finding a parking spot in the morning, which normally results in tardiness to their class. The addition of parking garages would benefit students not only with a shorter walk, but with more time spent in class.

FMU could provide two convenient parking garages with a walkway for its students and faculty, which will decrease the number of students late to their first class, provide a convenient way to walk back to their vehicles at any time and help to keep all students safe, especially those staying late on campus.

During the fall, FMU experiences an influx in their student numbers because of incoming freshman and transfer students. Due to this influx, the parking lots close to the main buildings are filled. If students are running a few minutes behind, it is difficult to arrive to their class on time. Adding two three-story parking garages in place of the current Founder’s Hall and University Center parking lots would eliminate the lack of available parking spaces. Providing each garage with their own security guard and walkover would also improve student’s safety.

The parking garages would provide anywhere between 75 to 100 more parking spaces each that are convenient and close enough to the buildings that most classes are held in, making Founder’s Hall, the Ronald E. McNair Science Building and the Leatherman Science Facility more accessible. The parking garage would even be beneficial to those who have classes in the Fine Arts Center. These parking garages would help give students the opportunity to walk to and from their vehicles more quickly and provide them with more time to walk to their classes without rushing.

Using the walkovers attached to the new parking garages, students would be able to walk onto campus safely and securely. Creating this bridge between the parking garages and the main campus itself significantly decreases the number of students walking across the roads. In turn, this would decrease the risk of automobile accidents involving a pedestrian and improve the time it takes for cars to get through campus roads into the back parking lots.

With students walking across the roads constantly, it makes it harder for those who are driving to park in a parking lot and get to their class quickly because drivers are constantly waiting on students to walk across the walkways. Also, the parking garages being equipped with security guards would help improve the safety of its students walking alone at all times of the day, especially during later hours.

Adding new parking garages to the campus would greatly help solve the problem with the lack of parking spaces. Incoming freshman, and transfer  students especially, struggle with finding parking spaces. Building parking garages would make life easier for both them and current students. Not only would parking garages be safer for all students at FMU, but they would also be more time efficient, secure and accessible compared to the normal parking lots the campus has currently.

More parking spaces are not only a good idea, but it has come to a point where they are a necessary addition to campus.