What is the longest you’ve waited for parking on campus? First-year student Jennifer Bisarra drove around campus for over two hours before deciding she would rather go home than continue to look for parking.
On Sept. 18, Bisarra came to school straight from work around 9:30 a.m. for her 10:30 a.m. class. Knowing her chances of finding parking right away were slim, she decided to wait in the parking structure. When security told her to move, she proceeded to drive around campus multiple times looking for a spot.
By 10:30 a.m., Bisarra was still trying to find parking. Already missing her Nursing 200 class, she continued to drive around campus hoping for an empty spot. Unfortunately, she was unsuccessful and, after having missed her Anatomy and Physiology class. This means she also missed her afternoon COM 101 course.
“I think there should be a system where they ensure Chaminade students have the promised parking that they paid for,” Bisarra said.
Parking headaches like Bisarra’s have been a common complaint throughout campus this semester. According to Jennifer Creech, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Success, this is because of a 27% increase in enrollment compared to last year. Based on an email sent on Sept. 5 by President Lynn Babington, Chaminade has welcomed 481 freshman and transfer students, one of its largest incoming classes in recent history. Though the numbers will be officially recorded Oct. 1, Chaminade announced this year has a total enrollment of 2,214 students (1,572 undergraduates and 642 graduates).
Many factors contributed to the spike in enrollment such as intentional branding, new sports (especially baseball), and Chaminade’s Hawaii Guarantee Program. The new sports alone brought in 41 male students, nearly half the total number of the incoming male students.
“More students is a good thing because it increases the diversity and it brings additional experiences, not only into the classrooms but into social activities, clubs, and organizations,” Creech said. “We’re providing a quality education for more students, which is a positive.”
Although the administration is happy about the increase in enrollment, it has caused frustration among students. Parking on campus became more limited as there seemed to be fewer parking spots available for the amount of students enrolled.
“Parking is a serious issue and often causes me to be late to class because I have to park so far away or simply can’t find an open spot on campus,” said Owen Caba, a Business and Criminal Justice major from Oregon.
Second-year student Caba currently owns both a moped and a car. Depending on what time his classes are, he alternates between the two. Caba found that driving his moped in the mornings and his car in the afternoons is the most efficient way for him to easily find parking on campus.
When it comes to parking, Creech said there are always complaints despite the year or the number of enrollments. It tends to be an issue at the beginning of the year and then fizzles out throughout the semester, she said.
“The parking on campus is definitely worse compared to last year with the new enrollment of more students,” said fourth-year student La’akea Gonsalves majoring in Communications. “I feel like the school did little to nothing to help improve the parking. They seem more worried about giving out tickets than actually making sure students can park.”
Although students are struggling with parking, it was expected since the increase in this year’s numbers was intentional.
Chaminade purposely did multiple targeted and data-driven outreaches to create a brand of recognition, in Hawai’i and the mainland. Doing responsive recruiting, outreach to guidance counselors and families to build relationships with sophomores and juniors in high school allowed Chaminade to reach its goals toward enrollment, she said.
“We worked really hard to build relationships with not only high school counselors but students and families locally (in ways we haven’t before),” Creech said. “So since we’ve put more emphasis on that, it’s not a surprise that students are wanting to come to Chaminade.”