Every new semester comes, and the number one complaint is about one issue only: the parking lot. Students all seem to have a lot to say on parking, and last year, I was certainly one of them. This year, I’m not matching the outrage.
On Aug. 21, I was faced with the difficult task of entering the Fresno City College parking lot and getting to class on time. I pulled in at 9:09 a.m. and wasn’t parked until 9:11 a.m. It took me a total of two minutes and six seconds.
During fall of 2024, I showed up for the first day of school an hour early to make sure I got a spot and inevitably was late to class. I texted a friend on Aug. 17, 2024. “I get there an hour early, then circle the parking lot for 40 minutes.” At the beginning of last semester, Jan. 14, “I was circling the parking lot for 35 minutes yesterday.”
Clearly, I’ve had problems in this parking lot. I was running my gas dry just from trying to get to class, and I was always met with strikingly similar complaints. It seemed that the whole FCC campus was an echo chamber.
The first day of school arrived, and I was mentally preparing for the torture that is the parking lot. I was prepared for the long lines and inevitably finding nothing in parking lots D or E. I was prepared to have to go to the parking structure, park on the top floor, and walk all the way to my class in 90-degree heat. Rather than that, within 10 minutes, I found a decent spot in the back of Lot E.
This moment felt magical; I entered my classes on cloud nine, and this continued to happen for the rest of the week.
When speaking on parking in my classes, my sentiment has not been shared. Everyone is still complaining about the overflowing lots and late entrances to class. So why was I finding spaces within 10 minutes while others scrambled?
Administration at FCC heard these complaints loud and clear and addressed it by having the parking structure built in fall 2022. Students still trekked to avoid this lot because of the longer walk. The opening of the new Science Building in spring 2025 had hundreds of STEM students encouraged to park not in the regular lots, but directly across the street from their new building in this parking structure.
This should have filtered out the main campus parking lot for the other students, but it somehow didn’t. People still have complaints.
One reason this could be is that FCC has been exceeding its goal for enrollment. The college was seeing a decrease in enrollment from 2020 to 2022, but recently the numbers have been increasing. An increasing number of students means an increasing number of cars. Positively, though, it means more opportunities for people to go to college.
Another factor is that students don’t want the less convenient spots. I often notice empty spaces in the back rows of Lot E while drivers circle the front rows, hoping for an opening. I’ve even had people wait for me to walk to my car instead of just driving a few rows back.
The final reason is that people simply want to complain about the parking because it is a part of the campus culture. In my experience, making friends within classes can be really difficult and disheartening. Small talk can be hard to master and annoying to sustain.
One thing that will always bring people together is a common enemy. When you get into class with nobody to talk to and say, “Parking sucked today,” there will be a rally of response from the room.
Now, all of a sudden, you went from a completely silent classroom to loud uproars. Jokes and laughter filter the room about the treacherous journey faced in going in never-ending circles just to get your education.
Overall, the parking lot will always get complaints, no matter how empty or full it is. Whether it takes 30 minutes or 10 minutes, if it is perceived as “full,” it feels like it took an hour. But if these complaints are the reason that students are able to form bonds and connect with their peers, maybe the FCC parking lot isn’t such a problem.
