Official figures from the Parking and Transportation Services department show the overselling of parking permits for several UNM lots continues and in some cases has increased.
Josh Kavanagh, associate director of the Parking and Transportation Services department, said there are nearly 11,000 parking spaces at UNM. He said 16,500 permits have been sold for those spaces this year.
G Lot, which has 1,899 spaces, has had 3,240 permits sold this semester. This means the lot is oversold by 71 percent, with 590 more permits sold this year than at the end of the spring semester.
South Lot, which has 2, 368 spaces, has had 5,284 permits sold this semester - oversold by 117 percent.
There have been 846 more permits sold this year for South Lot than at the end of the spring semester.
G and South Lots are two of the most heavily used student parking lots at UNM.
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Kavanagh defended the numbers, noting student-parking habits vary from those of faculty and staff, and not all students with permits are on campus at any given time.
"We have also used historical trends to determine a statistical capacity," Kavanagh said. "Statistical capacities are then adjusted up and down each semester based on current audits of available space."
Gilbert Marquez, a UNM sophomore, said overselling University parking lots is unethical and adds a significant amount of stress to people who are often left searching for somewhere to park.
"People shouldn't have to worry that the parking space they paid for might not be available to them," Marquez said. "Regardless of what kind of system you use, when a parking lot is oversold by that much, there are going to be people left out in the cold."
Student permit prices increased by $5 this semester and all other permit prices increased by 5 percent.
Jocelyn Gamble-Mims, an adviser in African American Student Services, said the recent permit price increases only add to the problems faced by the University community.
Kavanagh said the price increase is meant to keep pace with increased operating costs.
"For example, we have all noticed how fuel prices have risen over the last year," Kavanagh said. "When one considers what that means to an organization that runs shuttles 16 hours a day, a nominal rate increase in understandable."
Gamble-Mims said every time UNM employees get a raise, the fees for services that should be free, like parking, are increased.
"I wish they would stop trying to make it seem as if I have gained something when, in essence, I am just returning a portion of my raise back to the UNM machine," Gamble-Mims said.
The Parking and Transportation Services department, a self-sustaining organization, relies on funds generated through parking citations as a major source of its revenue.
During the spring semester 14,400 citations were issued, netting more than $75,000.
Kavanagh said that money is used to implement new programs that benefit the UNM community, including hiring an independent security force to patrol University parking lots.
