Finding parking at Seminole High School can be a struggle. Just ask senior Nicholas Marasigan, who nearly missed his first period trying to find a place to park.

“Once, I arrived at school five minutes late and had to wait about 30 minutes to find an empty parking space,” Marasigan said.

As enrollments surge and more upperclassmen get vehicles, stories like Marasigan’s are becoming increasingly common. Many juniors and seniors are acquiring parking permits, which has resulted in a difficulty of finding a parking spot. This is becoming a major issue, since competition for these limited spaces leads to frustration. It can even lead to serious consequences when students feel they are left with no choice but to park in staff parking.

Indeed, finding a parking spot during peak hours can result in having to continuously revolve around the SHS’s parking lots until someone gives up their spot. This usually occurs after 7:05, right when class is about to begin. 

To help rectify the situation, SHS instituted seniors-only private parking spots. This guarantees that their desired parking spot will be available for students, no matter how late they are. The new policy has been a relief to students who are eligible for and able to afford the parking spots.

Senior Arjun Valay said, “I am very glad that the school allowed students to purchase private parking spots this year as I do not have to worry about the hassle of arriving to school early.”

However, this is not the case for most students, because the opportunity is closed to juniors and comes at the steep price of $170. Thus, to force students to choose between competing for limited spots or overcoming a costly economic barrier is absurd and unfair.

In order to make parking more efficient, either more spaces need to be added to accommodate the large student body, or reserved spots need to be more affordably priced. Otherwise, SHS may soon find its parking lots clogged with impatient student drivers, unable to receive the educations that they drove all this way for.