I know I cannot be the first parent of a UTC student to complain about the parking situation there but I want to put my two cents in. I have had at least one child as a student there for the past three years and every year they have purchased a general parking permit because when trying to purchase reserved permits, they are sold out months in advance to students who are already holding those spaces. It is really frustrating for myself and my children that they have to drive around for 1-2 hours before their classes and still sometimes cannot find a space in a general lot, so they end up parking either illegally or at a parking meter where they have to pay more money, and just pray that they get back to the meter in enough time between their classes before the meter runs out so that they don’t get a city of Chattanooga parking ticket.
I just don’t understand how they can continue to build more and more dorms but can’t seem to come up with the money to build more parking lots or even garages. Shouldn’t your commuting students be just as important as your residents? Apparently UTC doesn’t think so because they have nowhere to park.
I assume the 300+ general parking permits they have oversold for Fall 2017/Spring and Summer 2018 semesters are supposed to help pay for the new dorms with their permit fees and the $25 tickets UTC parking police give them when they are illegally parked, while they are trying to further their education.
Julie Chambers