Parking and Transportation Services oversells parking permits, potentially leaving thousands without spots

OU oversold commuter parking permits by 4,732 spots and housing parking permits by 1,115 spots for the 2022-23 academic year, leaving about 5,800 students without parking. 

OU sold 7,490 commuter parking permits this year, but the Norman campus currently has 2,758 commuter parking spaces, meaning there’s a 4,732 gap between permits sold and spaces available on campus. OU sold 3,189 housing parking permits but has 2,074 housing parking spaces — a 1,115 gap. 

Commuter and housing parking permits cost $274 for the academic year, according to the OU Parking and Transportation Services website. 

The campus also has 3,164 multi-purpose parking spaces to be used by any valid OU parking permit. 

In total, the gap between housing and commuter permits and spaces available on campus is 5,847. If all students within that gap utilized the multi-purpose parking spaces, there would still be 2,683 students left without parking. 

OU sold 4,266 faculty and staff parking permits and has 4,262 faculty and staff parking spaces. Faculty and staff parking permits cost $311. 

An OU spokesperson wrote when selling parking permits, OU accounts for the number of available parking spaces by category at peak times.  

While parking is at a higher capacity than it was during the pandemic, there are still hundreds of available parking spaces at all times, the spokesperson wrote.

There currently are no immediate plans to add additional parking on the OU-Norman campus, the spokesperson wrote. However, two new commuter lots, one south of Headington Hall and one south of Sarkeys Energy Center, were added in the fall of 2020. 

Around that same time, the university acquired the Timberdell Road Parking Facility, according to the spokesperson, which added more than 1,200 new parking spaces for OU Housing residents.

On Aug. 29, the top level of the Jenkins Avenue Parking Facility was transitioned to multipurpose parking, available to those with a housing or commuter parking permit and adding 240 additional parking spaces. 

Additionally, free parking on the north side of the Lloyd Noble Center is available to all OU students, faculty and staff. From there, the free LNC Shuttle transports riders to Campus Depot on the west side of the stadium, the spokesperson wrote.