Every quarter we hear the same excuse from our classmates: they’re late because they couldn’t find parking on campus.

As student Kristela Gonzalez recently said, “Convenient parking can be difficult to find, especially if you’re running late to class….Unless one makes time for a long trek, parking is often limited, stressful and at times, a war zone.”

The parking isn’t as bad as students might think it is. There are a few secrets for when and where you can almost always find parking.

According to CSU East Bay’s website, last fall’s full and part-time enrollment at CSUEB was about 13,800 students. In an interview, parking services coordinator Derrick Lobo said the Hayward campus has 4,635 total parking spaces. About 3,582, or roughly 77 percent, are available to students. This 3.85 students per space ratio compares favorably to the 4.0 parking space to student ratio model exemplified by the Cuyamaca College Parking Plan, which is considered a template for California Colleges whose enrollment includes a large commuting population.

That plan states, “A 4-1 ratio, for example, would reflect an average [length of time a student parks on campus each day] exceeding ten hours per student.”  Respect should be given to those students who are on campus longer than that every day. The report further states that, “The most common average parking ratio on…campuses is 5 to 1.”

The problem isn’t so much that there is insufficient parking, but that some students unrealistically expect to drive right into the lot closest to their first class and find spaces available five minutes before class begins.  Lobo confirmed that several of the lots further from campus almost never fill up.

“N” (on the right side of Carlos Bee coming into campus) and “P” (on the left side of Carlos Bee) are the lots to which Lobo refers to.  These locations clearly pose challenges for those who may not be able to easily walk half a mile, but come on: most can.

Lobo made the point that arriving too early to find parking is a common mistake: if you arrive at 10:30 a.m. people haven’t gotten to their cars after their class let out at 10:50 a.m. So if you require a closer space, try arriving about 15 minutes, but not 30, before class.  For the rest of us, the best advice seems to be to arrive about 20 minutes before class, park in one of those outer lots, and be prepared to walk six or seven minutes.

The space you don’t take in a closer lot leaves a space for someone who probably needs it more than you do.  Beside, the walk will wake you up, even if the three Red Bulls didn’t.

According to CSUEB Planning Design and Construction Director Keat Saw, while the impact of tearing down Warren Hall has meant a reduction in about 200 parking spaces, these slots will return in stages and it is hoped these will all return before fall quarter.

This is not to say Lobo feels the parking situation is optimal.  Saw said that while there are plans for building parking structures on campus, these are currently unfunded, and the first design has been challenged in court by both the immediate neighborhood and the city of Hayward and is thus in litigation.

Of course there are greener solutions as well: buses, car pools and bicycles (well, it’s downhill after class!)  However, jetpacks remain sadly unavailable.

Armed with a little foresight, knowledge and “parking lot chicken” skills, you should be able to find a parking space on campus with little trouble.