EDITORIAL: Elmhurst University needs to pump the breaks on their heightened enrollment

Graphic by- Rachel Fratt

There is no denying that ever since the school year started, parking has been a nightmare at Elmhurst University.

The Alexander Lot has turned into a battlefield, with Bluejays in a Civil War against one another. 

No matter how early commuters think they are, every day they are still fighting with other students to try to get a spot. 

Even professors have to fight on the front lines to try to get parking. With no specific parking lots for professors, they are also subjected to the mess of speeding through the rows to try to get a spot. 

Our teachers, who are supposed to be guiding us in our academic journey, are now also the ones cutting us off for a parking spot.

Even if you think you are early for class and are guaranteed a parking spot, now that is not so certain. Now everyone has to accommodate extra time for parking, and that still does not always work. 

On top of this, on-campus residents are also having trouble finding parking by their residence halls as commuters slowly retreat from the main fight in Alexander into various parking lots by West or Dinkmeyer Hall. 

This year has been record-breaking for EU in terms of enrollment. This fall semester, a total of 1,410 students have begun their time at the school, which was a 16 percent increase from the year prior. 

In comparison to last year’s enrollment number, 3,564, there are a total of 3,780 students. That number is up over 200 from last year. 

While this is exciting for the school, there are 200 more students, which means there are 200 students who do not have a place to park on campus.

Last fall, the Alexander parking lot experienced an expansion; however, that expansion already needs an update. 

There is extra parking by St. Peter’s Church and First United Methodist Church. This alternative parking is appreciated but highly inconvenient to students already in a rush to get to class.

Being three blocks away from EU’s campus, all students try to avoid these lots. If there was a transportation service to get students from these lots to school, then maybe it would be effective, but this alternative feels more like a punishment. 

While the Bluejay shuttle does run, it does not run to these parking lots to help get these students on to campus. Putting the shuttle service to work is needed to make students willing to park in this lot.

Being almost trapped between the train tracks and Wilder Park, Elmhurst University has very limited space for expansion, and they have to be careful with how they do so. 

As EU grows in size with its student body, they need to find a solution for parking, or soon they will have an even bigger issue on their hands. 

Of course, it is nice to have record-breaking enrollment numbers, but if this trend continues, there will be no space at EU for these new students. Having large numbers of enrollment looks good on paper, but it does not look good when the parking lot looks like a stuffed can of sardines.

If nothing new is done to help with expansion, EU needs to only enroll the number of students they know they can take. They need to realize their size, and that their big dreams of expansion cannot happen without steps forward. 

Of course, it is a long journey to be able to expand, but if they have not already, EU needs to act fast and start the process of how they will move forward.

The parking issue that students are facing right now is only the tip of the iceberg of problems that EU will face if they continue to expand the student body without any changes. A change is desperately needed before anything traumatic occurs.