The Nightmare of Parking at California State University, Northridge

Jorge Hernandez
4 min readDec 16, 2019

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Parking at California State University, Northridge is a nightmare for the students as it is not easy to find the perfect spot for them.

At California State University, Northridge, there are nearly 38,800 part-time and full-time students. This a sufficient amount of students that are attending the University. The University has over 2,000 Faculty members, According to the CSUN catalog. CSUN has many students, which makes it tough for students to find parking.

“It is tough for me to find parking, I live 45 minutes away and still have to leave 1 hour and 30 minutes early to get parking.” Said Ricardo Sandoval a student from CSUN. “One lot that I think everyone likes to park at is B3.”

B3 parking structure, Photo by Jorge Hernandez

California State University, Northridge has 10 parking lots that students can park in. There are three parking locations that are on Darby street, and those are B1 lots, B3 structure and B5 structure. There’s a lot on Plummer street and that lot is B6. On Halsted Street, students can park at E6. Another parking area for students would be at F5. Another parking where students can park is on lot G3 and Structure G3 located on Zelzah Street. Lots of F10 and G12 are also available for students to park.

G3 parking lot structure, Photo by Jorge Hernandez

Faculty and staffs also have their own parking lots that are just designated for them. Although faculty and staff have their own parking there are some who are still not so happy with their parking situation.

“When I come to work I would like to find a parking spot really fast, but that is not the case.” Said, Alex Casillas an academic advisor for California state university, Northridge. “I don’t think that the new parking structure will fix the parking situation here at the university.”

To park in these parking lots and structures there is a fee that one must pay to park in the parking and those are 2 hours is $4, 4 hours is $6, and all day is $8. There is a parking pass per semester that costs $213.

Students believe that they pay way too much for parking and are not even guaranteed a spot. “I think it is unfair for me to pay $200 a semester and still struggle to find parking on campus,” Said Brian Chillin a student who has been at Northridge for five years. “Parking gets so full so I have to park on the street.”

The parking officers try to do their best to keep those with no parking pass. Officers issued a $50 ticket for those who violate the parking rule. \

If a student would like to beat finding parking, there is a metro bus that leaves students by Bayramian hall. This will help students beat the struggle of finding parking. Another way that a student can beat the struggle of finding parking is that they can park at F10 which is the parking lot with fewer cars, then take the university tram that can drop them off on campus.

The University offers carpool and they help you with an arrangement. To get help with carpool one has to visit the CSUN transportation link. The associated student’s web page would be the way to find a carpool arrangement. This helps with the struggle of finding parking every day when one knows that parking at Northridge is tough to find. Associated Students can help find someone from you are to save a student from the struggle.

California State University, Northridge have decided to build a new parking structure that is located on Zelzah. The parking structure will be a five-level structure. The approximate date that the new structure will open is in 2020, According to California State University, Northridge.

Parking has been a problem for years now. About 5 years ago sundial interviewed a couple of students talking about the struggle of parking. Many students back then had the same problems that the students from now had

Video by The sundial

Students are often late to class due to the fact that they spend 15 minutes or more trying to find parking. David Morales is one of the students that spend a lot of time finding parking. “I once spent about 20 minutes just looking for parking. Rainy days are when most parking spaces are full. Students think that the parking situation can affect their grades if they continue to go late to class if one cannot find parking.

Tweet by CSUN parking complaints

The parking situation is trying to be handle at the University. Many students are stressing over the parking situation that is currently an issue at California State University, Northridge. Students are hoping that the new G6 parking lot structure will resolve the parking issue. According to students, The main issue of finding parking is that the university is impacted and many students are getting admissions and there is not enough space for every student to park their cars.

B6 parking structure, Photo by Jorge Hernandez

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