The cost of parking at CSUDH is rising and some students say the higher rate is squeezing their bank accounts. The current rate for a student parking pass has increased to $200 per semester. The question is, should Toros just come to expect (and accept) that this trend will continue?
CSUDH is mostly a commuter campus, and with an estimated 17,000 Toros enrolled for Fall 2023, the parking situation could cause difficulty for some students, faculty, and staff – even if they find a spot.
Parking fees have increased steadily across the board over the past four years, according to the CSUDH Parking Department. In 2019, the cost of a student parking pass was $155 per semester. Dominguez Hills isn’t alone, though – parking has increased across the CSU system, according to the Parking and Transportation Department’s 2022-2023 income report. For example, CSU campuses at Long Beach, Northridge, and Fullerton all raised parking fees to around $250 per semester last year.
Fifth-year communications student Jason Manuel said higher parking fees pushed him to reconsider living closer to campus.
“The prices are a lot and with not having a fortunate family to help pay for my college, I’m strictly living off my financial aid,” Manuel said.
“So when I needed to pay for a parking pass, I would just be scraping by in terms of living in my day-to-day life.”
Manuel said he moved closer to campus to save time and money. He said the change has allowed him to both work and go to school.
Manuel wasn’t the only student concerned about parking. Back in August, Toros took to CSUDH’s Instagram to criticize the parking situation. In a post about parking on campus, some students left comments describing the experience as “irrational” and “unattainable.” The Instagram post appears to have since been removed.
In an email to The Bulletin, a CSUDH spokesperson said the university “cannot and does not delete social media comments unless they contain unprotected speech such as threats or defamation.” The spokesperson later said CSUDH’s social media team was not aware of any Instagram posts about campus parking during that time.
Some CSUDH staff members have expressed sympathy with students, offering an explanation for the higher fees.
“[COVID-19] made many campuses close their classes and switch to online. This resulted in only a few classes being in person and due to the small number of students who had to buy a parking pass,” said a parking services staff member. “Dominguez was one of the schools that lowered their price for the annual pass due to only having a minimal amount of classes in person.”
Between 2020 and 2022, the majority of Toros were attending school virtually. As CSUDH lifted its COVID-19 guidelines and more students returned to campus, the university also raised its parking fees.
The parking staff member said the department considered the higher rates to be reasonable compared to those at other colleges in Los Angeles where tuition is more expensive.
“The School needs to help balance their parking lots each semester that it becomes busy so they think drastically when it comes to parking,” the parking staff member said.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated from a previous version to clarify the Instagram post and to include comments from a CSUDH spokesperson on the university’s social media policy.
