After holding several parking forums in March to receive student and staff feedback regarding Bucknell’s current campus parking policies, Public Safety (PSafe) Chief Anthony Morgan recently announced changes to parking that will go into effect on July 1, 2025. In his email announcing the upcoming implementations, Morgan acknowledged that “the recommendations [PSafe] are adopting will not solve all parking problems on our campus” but hopes they will at least “make incremental improvements to address parking compression [and] violations,” which impact both students and employees. New permit registration details will continue to go live throughout June and July; those hoping to acquire a permit for the 2025-26 academic year are encouraged to check their emails for communication from PSafe over that period.
Beginning on that July 1 implementation date, the fee for all citations will increase by $35. Students who receive three tickets in an academic year will be towed on their fourth violation (a shift from the previous cap of six tickets); students who receive five or more citations will lose their parking privileges for the current year and will not be eligible to enter the permit lottery for the following year (in this case, 2026-27). Any vehicle operated by a first-year student in any Bucknell lot and any vehicle preventing normal University operations (by blocking locations such as sheds, dumpsters and loading docks) will be immediately towed with no warning citations.
Individual permit prices will double from their current $50/semester and $100/academic year to $100/semester and $200/academic year. Summer permit costs will remain $25. The number of permits available to students will be strictly capped at 1,300 with no exception pursuable through the PSafe offices; the 2024-25 academic year saw 1,634 student permits issued by PSafe.
One parking lot across from the Weis Center, Lot 72, is going to be changed into an all-decal lot (previously it was designated as staff-only), adding 96 spaces to the pool available to student drivers. Occasionally during the academic year the lot is reserved for sporting and Weis Center events, at which time the appropriate signage will be pitched to indicate the lot’s closure. Information about all of these changes can be found in Morgan’s original email.
Morgan explained to The Bucknellian that the list of changes being implemented was created by “comparing feedback and complaints to our parking data.” Previously, there was no cap on student parking permits, and the number of permits issued has been rising exponentially since 2020; “a lot of the feedback” that Morgan and the PSafe team received from students “centered around the fact that we issue more parking permits than we have available student parking spaces.” When issuing permits, however, they must take into consideration that the opinions of employees, also affected by the number of permits issued, are coming from a different place than those of the students and that “there are no changes I can recommend that are going to make all students or employees completely happy.” Ultimately, Morgan concludes that they “can’t continue to give out more permits than parking spaces and expect anything will improve.” Current efforts to change adverse behaviors, like the “well over 100 first-year students” who “bring their car every year, taking spots away from other students,” have not been effective, so he hopes that “elevating consequences” will “change behavior and improve the parking experience for students who are registered to park on campus.” For now, Morgan feels that “this is the most effective and responsible solution to our parking situation.”
Student feedback has been largely centered on the permit price increase and the lack of nuance when addressing the circumstances that may enable a student to commit parking violations and deal with associated fines. The permit price increase itself “makes parking even more inaccessible to those who can’t afford it,” says Maria Wooden ’26, and those who park illegally “are usually those [who are] less affected by parking ticket costs” and view fines as simply a cost to park somewhere, “so [increasing] ticket costs won’t stop them.”
“Doubling the price of parking and limiting spaces makes it less affordable and accessible for the people whose parents can’t afford to take off work to drive them to and from school, or for people that are driving across the country to move in,” adds Delaney Bowersox ’27. Elmira Colpus ’27 agrees, adding, “I live eight hours from here, and the fact that I have to wait a week after seniors register to see if my mom has to take two days off of work to drive me here or not is crazy.”
Phillip Etergino ’27 finds the changes “stupid,” especially considering that “spaces have been added” to what parking is available for students, but “permits are still being reduced.”