Unclear communication preceding a hasty deadline regarding parking permits has led to widespread confusion and long lines outside the Campus Safety Office. Free parking permits were supposed to be sent in the mail by Thursday, Aug. 25, to any student who registered between July 6 and July 24, but many students never received one.
“I pray that we won’t have a ticket if we haven’t received the parking permit on time.” Fullerton College student Tam Nguyen said, “So that will cause us trouble in the next weeks.”
Students were told to retrieve their parking permits at the Campus Safety Office located in building 1500 if they had not received one in the mail by the end of the first week of classes.
Fullerton College student Lucas Salazar retrieved his permit early. “I just picked it up in case it didn’t come in time,” said Salazar. He also commented on the state of Fullerton College’s parking lot, labeling the overcrowding as “atrocious.”
Not all students realize when the Campus Safety Office is open. Their webpage lists their office as being closed on Fridays, but the hours displayed on the Campus Safety Office list Friday’s hours as 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Signs outside and inside the office say that both a student ID and personal ID are required to retrieve a parking permit, yet some students have received their permits by only providing verbal confirmation of their student ID number.
Director of Campus Communications Lisa McPheron said she was unaware of parking permit delays.
“They don’t do citations the first week of any semester, and so that gives people enough time to get their decals that first week,” she said. “So our instructions have been: If you don’t have it, go to campus safety to pick it up in-person.”
The root of the problem came in the production of the permits. “The delay of parking permits was due to supply-chain problems,” said Director of Campus Safety Steve Selby. “The vendor who prints the permits was very delayed in sending the permits to us.”
Without a parking permit, students are at risk for a ticketed citation of $37 from Campus Safety beginning Monday, August 29, 2022.
Edit: New information about the cause of the permit delay has been added.