OU Parking and Transportation Services has reported nearly $50,000 in parking ticket revenue so far in the 2026 academic year.
According to an open records request, OU Parking has written 6,258 parking tickets as of Oct. 5, raising $49,212 in revenue so far.
The university reportedly made $5,196,178 in parking permit sales this year, reporting a total of $5,245,390 in total revenue including citations.
A breakdown of the type of parking permit sold to spaces available reveals housing and faculty permits nearly equal spaces available, but commuter permits show a wider gap.
The permit-to-parking space ratios are as follows:
• 7,474 commuter permits sold and 4,052 commuter spaces available.
• 3,460 housing permits sold and 3,233 housing spaces available.
• 4,023 faculty/staff permits sold and 3,931 faculty/staff spaces available.
OU Parking and Transportation Services Director Kris Glenn wrote in an email to the Daily Wednesday that revenue from parking citations and permit sales is used for various expenses, including repairs, maintenance and bonds for existing parking garages.
Glenn wrote the citation revenue is “very typical for this time of year.”
The open records office wrote in its response it is a common misconception that OU Parking is overselling permits, particularly commuter permits. Commuters are on campus different days of the week and not on campus all at one time, the response reads.
“If we capped Commuter permit sales at the number of total spaces, that wouldn’t make sense obviously,” the response reads. “We would have students that were turned away from buying a permit, even though they would see hundreds of empty spaces every day.”
Construction on a new on-campus parking garage is expected to begin in 2027. The planned location on College Avenue and Cruce Street west of the Charles B. Goddard Health Center is currently a 180-space faculty/staff lot.
According to OU Parking, the new five-story, 240,000-square-foot parking garage is expected to provide more than 650 commuter and faculty/staff spaces.
OU Parking reportedly focuses on peak parking times — when the highest number of students are on campus — when determining how many commuter permits to sell. The department wrote that it is “consistent with every other major university we come in contact with.”
The response also details alternative parking options like multipurpose spots, free parking at the Lloyd Noble Center and more free parking at the Parkview lot on Lindsey and George streets.
This story was edited by Macey Thaxton. Kylie Caldwell and Kennedy Johnson copy edited this story.
