NEC has welcomed many new additions including new housing, new sports teams, and even a new campus in Manchester with the NHIA merger. All of these changes have attracted prospective students, therefore, it is crucial that the school continues to accommodate parking needs. As NEC’s student body continues to grow, parking spaces on campus are becoming harder to come by.
Though commuters, faculty, and staff are lucky to be able to park in Currier lot, directly next to the Lyons building, residential students do not have this luxury. It is often difficult for residents to find adequate parking for class since the closest resident parking lot to Lyons and the Science Building is West lot.
This means students traveling from Rowe, Contoocook, and Sanborn Halls are all forced to walk nearly half a mile from their classrooms. Last semester students in Contoocook Hall didn’t even have parking spaces within half a mile of their dorm rooms.
Commuters argue that their lots are always full of resident students while campus residents argue that many of them live farther than the handful of commuters who are given the “prime parking.” It would be helpful to open the field house and adjacent CEI lots to both residential and commuting students so the athletes can park closest to not only their classrooms, but also their athletic facilities.
The parking controversy has been an ongoing debate and hopefully in the future we can find ways to increase funding and accommodate new parking.
