Students face crowded parking and housing issues across campus as enrollment reaches all-time high

Students share various problems they experience at Chapman as enrollment increases, like overcrowding at dorms, delayed work orders and lack of parking for commuter students. Photo by DEVON JAMES, staff photographer

As Chapman University enrollment continues on an upward trend, including this year’s unusually large first-year class, many students face problems with housing and parking on campus.

Dean of Students Jerry Price explained that Residence Life and First Year Experience assigned some freshman students to Chapman apartments — which are typically reserved for continuing students — instead of the dorms. This includes Panther Village, which houses almost 100 freshmen this year.

“The classes were smaller recently due to COVID, and this one was surprisingly large compared to what we had then,” Price told The Panther. 

The final count of this year’s freshman students was not immediately available and should be coming in the next few weeks.

In order to make room for the extra freshmen students, Price explained that Chapman offered continuing students who had applied to live in Chapman housing financial incentives to pursue other housing options. The university gave students $1,500 incentive grants for off-campus housing. Approximately 25 to 30 students accepted the offers.

Price also shared Chapman’s plan to increase housing on and off campus for all students, especially upperclassmen.

“We have in our strategic plan to add another 800 to 900 beds in the next few years,” Price said. “We want to meet the demand of more upper-class students who stay in Chapman housing if we had more options for them. If we had more housing for upper-class students, that gives us more flexibility with freshmen, too.”

Students often face a variety of problems at their dorms and apartments, which has been exacerbated with the increasing enrollment. When sophomore Lizbeth Ramirez, a double major in biology and music, lived in the Pralle-Sodaro Residence Hall her freshman year, she had to resolve conflicts with her roommate and had trouble studying at the dorm hall.

“(I had) differences with my roommate because I would have rehearsal at night, so it would interfere with my roommate’s sleeping schedule,” Ramirez said.

Ramirez also said that since Pralle-Sodaro Hall tends to get crowded at night, she would often go to the Henley Hall lounge to find somewhere quiet to study.

Issues persist throughout continuing student buildings as well. The noise that undeclared sophomore Madison Bryan hears from her Chapman Grand apartment can sometimes be frustrating.

“The doors and windows aren’t exactly soundproof, so it’s easy to hear people outside my door, as well as hear what’s happening outside on the street,” Bryan told The Panther. “While it’s not a huge problem, it can get a little annoying when trying to study or sleep.”

While Chapman Grand housed approximately 900 students last year, beds were added to bring the occupancy up to 1000 this year.

Sophomore strategic and corporate communication major Arielle Lee told The Panther that she found several broken appliances in her apartment at The K when she moved in, including her blinds, her air conditioning and her toilet paper holder. She has been waiting for four weeks for these to be fixed.

Among students with cars, commuter students face more difficulties parking than students living in university-owned housing. Senior film production major Jessica Quintos, who lives in Orange about 10 minutes away from Chapman, has had trouble finding parking when driving to campus.

“When I need to go to (the) main campus, it can be tough to find parking close by,” Quintos told The Panther. “Last semester, I was late for some classes at the main campus, but I learned I needed to leave much earlier to account for how much time it takes to find parking.”

Chapman’s Parking and Transportation Services have various methods for dealing with the need for parking. Assistant Director Sheryl Boyd explained to The Panther that Parking and Transportation Services tracks the demand for and amount of parking spaces in the Anderson, Barrera and West Campus Parking Structures by using space count systems, security cameras and physically counting the spaces.

“As one structure or lot nears capacity, we deploy signage to direct constituents to the next available parking location,” Boyd said. “I also hired additional support staff during the first two weeks of the semester to give us the ability to quickly redirect cars as parking areas filled. While the start of this semester saw an increase in parking demand in the Anderson, Barrera and Jim Miller Parking Structures, the West Campus Structure top level remained open and available every day.”

Boyd explained that the parking structures became less crowded the third week of this semester, a trend she explained was common.

“Demand is always higher the first two weeks until students finalize their class schedules,” Boyd said. “I encourage students to familiarize themselves with all the parking areas valid for their permit type.” 

For help with parking, Boyd recommends that students use the space availability apps  — the Chapman App on Google Play and Chapman Parking on the App Store — which display the available spaces at the Anderson and Barrera structures. Additionally, students with commuter permits can park in the Cypress Lot, the top two levels of the Jim Miller Structure and the top two levels of the West Campus Structure.