Lot H, the parking lot on the lower side of campus, is located across from Willow housing. This was once a commuter parking lot, with faculty being allowed to park there as well. At the beginning of the 2025-2026 academic year, the lot has now been made available for both resident and commuting students. This change was made in response to the AUCHO-i EBI resident survey that was done earlier this year. Derek Zuckerman, Associate Vice President for Student Life and Dean of Students, mentioned that resident students made the point that if they lived in Willow, why were they not allowed to park across the street in Lot H?

“We had a committee that met over the summer,” said Zuckerman. “We reviewed the number of parking spaces that we have throughout the campus in different areas. And one of the things that we decided to do was to allow resident students to also use the lower lot on Old Ferry Road.” 

Joseph Loiselle, the manager of Parking and Transportation on the Roger Williams campus, has expressed that he has seen the complaints from commuter students at the beginning of this semester due to the change. “I’m not going to deny it,” Loiselle continued. “At the beginning of this year, a lot of the commuters were up in arms.” Yet the administration reaffirms that there is more than enough parking for every student on campus.  “There are students that don’t want to have to park too far from where they’re ultimately having class. And that I think is the issue,”  said Loiselle, with Zuckerman corroborating these thoughts. Although with the change, this has significantly affected commuter students’ experience going to and from campus.

When speaking with Rachel Cabral, a RWU senior commuter student, she expressed how she has at times found it difficult to find a parking spot, “I would definitely say that the changes to Lot H have impacted my experience as a commuter. I have quite a hard time finding parking now, no matter what time of day I arrive, particularly compared to semesters past,” said Cabral. “Just the other day, I arrived at 8:15 for a 9 a.m. just to ensure that I wouldn’t be late because I have been late to classes this semester due to an inability to find parking.” 

Ryan Trabulsi, the parking chairman of the Student Senate cabinet, spoke about how the change to Lot H has also shown an influx of tickets from students. Loiselle shared similar thoughts, but did comment that ticket numbers from years past, compared to the current academic year, are pretty consistent. Additionally, because of the changes with Lot H, resident students have been parking in lots that may not be designated for them. Samantha McCandless and Ayva Johnson, RWU sophomore resident students, both live in North Campus Residence Hall. McCandless and Johnson both have been ticketed after having to park in the gravel lot due to limited parking within the parking garage. 

After hearing from both students and faculty, The Capsized Tribune completed our own investigation into this situation. A survey was created and sent out to students, both residents and commuters, to find out what their experiences have been this year with the changes in parking. Of the 28 responses received from all four classes, 75% of the responses were from residents and 25% were from commuters. Within the survey, it was found that 71.4% of total respondents, including both commuters and residents, have had difficulty finding parking on campus. 19% of resident students frequently park in Lot H. 71% of commuter students have been ticketed this year due to where they have parked, whereas only 43% of resident students have been ticketed. 

“If you ask people about what they don’t like at any college or any university, there are two things, and those two things are food and parking,” said Zuckerman. However, some solutions are being explored for the next semester and future academic school years. Trabulsi said that there are possible scenarios that are being explored to “cushion the blow.” On September 22, 2025, a proposal was made to possibly change how students, faculty, and staff parking permits are colored in hopes of simplifying the process. Trabusli also mentioned the possibility of opening up another lot for commuters. Conclusions are yet to be reached, but there is a chance that changes could occur next semester or the next academic year, as was stated by Zuckerman. 

We at The Capsized Tribune want to continue our investigation and want to know your thoughts on the parking situation on campus. Let us know @CapsizedTribune on Instagram! 

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