“It’s a service that we are offering to try to get people where they want to be versus having to purchase what’s available at the time,” said Larry Emling, Parking Services manager.

All permits, which are sold based on whether a student lives on or off campus, are broken down into class standing. The higher the class standing, the better the parking options available.

Parking Services goes out to the parking lots on Kent State’s campus in the beginning of the semester and monitors the number of parking spots being used.

After students make an initial permit purchase, Emling said some realize they might not have to come to that parking lot every day due to class attendance polices or students adding or dropping classes.

If Parking Services sees spaces available, they will check the waitlist and offer waitlisted students a chance to buy or exchange their current permit for one they desire more. Students will be notified by e-mail and will have two days to respond. If they don’t respond, it will go to the next student on the waitlist.

“We can never guarantee that something better will become available, although typically the further we get into the semester, usually that does occur,” Emling said.

Jessica Lanzarotta, senior nursing major, is a commuter, and she thinks the waitlist will be a good thing for students.

“I think it will be a success if they track how many people are using the parking lots accurately,” Lanzarotta said. “If they sell too many permits, that could be a problem for sure.”

The waitlist is currently up and running, holding about 150-175 students names.

“We used to have a line out here a hundred people deep at 6 in the morning,” Emling said. “We used to have people actually bring pillows and set up at midnight because they wanted to be first in line. It was like, we’ve got to come up with a better way.”

He said other universities use a waitlist system for their student’s parking permit purchases. Kent State’s Parking Services was unable to offer it to its students due to the lack of software.

With the upgrade in software that is now up and running, Parking Services wants to take a positive step further in the services they offer to students, Emling said.

If the wait list proves successful, Emling said Parking Services will offer students the option to put themselves on the waitlist through its website next fall. Currently, the staff enters and categorizes every name as the e-mails come in.

Lisa Daronatsy, fashion design and merchandising major, said she thinks it will benefit both students and Parking Services. Students will receive better parking spots, and parking services will receive more money with permit sales.

Contact at Brittney Trojanowski [email protected].