Parking at the Australian National University has reached a crisis point with students complaining their education is suffering because they are unable to reach classes on time.
Gillian Crick is a part-time student who supports her study by working 30 hours a week as an office manager. The 27-year-old will become a full-time student in February, in part because of restrictive parking practices for part-time students.
''As a part-time student, I'm not entitled to a student parking permit, which rules out a lot of the parking on this campus, and then there are pay-and-display car parks scattered throughout the campus,'' she said.
''I always check the pay-and-display car parks first and I'm quite happy to pay for parking, that's not the issue. They are always full.'' Under ANU policy, the only area Ms Crick can park is visitors' parking.
''The visitors' car parks in the area of campus I need to access are always full before 9am,'' she said.
The third-year science student said her inability to find parking was the main reason she was late or missed classes. ''It takes more than 10 minutes to walk from the North Oval car park to the Robertson Lecture Theatre ... and I was late for the lecture I was trying to attend. It took me at least 20 minutes.''
She said many full-time students who did not travel by car sold their parking permits to family and friends every year, allowing them to park on campus free of charge.
Ms Crick said public transport from Queanbeyan, where she lives, can cost up to $15 a day and was prohibitively expensive.
Leaving her car at home was not possible, as public transport between Mawson, her place of work, and ANU during the day was too slow.
''I was told I should have just enrolled full time to begin with then just dropped out of the courses I had enrolled in as a fake once I had obtained a parking permit for the year,'' she said. ''I'm coming from work, so I have half an hour to get here, get a park and get to the lecture. If I was a full-time student I could park miles away and walk in and it wouldn't be an issue because I wouldn't have time constraints.''
She welcomed a review of parking announced by vice-chancellor Professor Ian Chubb.
In an email, Professor Chubb said consultants would comment on transport on, and to, the ANU campus, advise on car parking fees, the costs and possible location of multi-storey car parking on campus.
Professor Chubb said he would implement some alternative transport initiatives immediately.
''These could include negotiating better public transport access with the ACT Government, additional secure bicycle facilities, more motorcycle spaces, expansion of cross-campus cycle options and a commuter park-and-ride shuttle bus system,'' he said.
As one of the existing car parks next to Sullivans Creek will now be sidelined for contractor parking, the general parking crisis on campus will get worse.
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