Sprinting through campus from the depths of the Lansdowne parking lot to get to my class in the Young Building has become my new morning routine. During winter break, my preferred parking lot was fenced off, making the rest of the lot more crowded than usual and leaving me no choice but to park at the far end when I am running late for class.
If you’re unaware, Camosun is building on-campus student housing in this fenced-off area. The six-storey building, with approximately 420 beds and a cost of $154.7 million ($151.7 million from government funding, and $3 million from Camosun), is expected to be completed in the fall of 2027. Government officials say the priority is to provide affordable on-campus housing for students, while also helping alleviate the rental market in Victoria.
Building on existing parking lots is an urban-planning strategy called infill development, which reduces costs because the land is already cleared. What is unclear is why the college chose this specific lot rather than the rear parking lot, which was always empty before winter break. Did site selection prioritize construction logistics over student accessibility?
This isn’t the first time I’ve found myself running from the parking lot to class. While I attended the Interurban campus, I was always late to class because most parking lots fill up quickly. The worst part is that even if I tried to take the bus to campus, the morning bus was always full by the time it reached my stop.
At Lansdowne, I initially saw parking availability as a benefit, a “luxury” compared to the gridlock of Interurban. However, I was quickly reminded that driving is not just a choice I get to make every morning; it is a necessity. There are no bus stops near my house that would get me to campus in a reasonable amount of time. I used to think of driving to school as a privilege, but it’s what I must do if I want to be in my seat on time, and it comes with a cost.
At Camosun, Robbins charges $3.50 for four hours of parking and $7.00 for the full day, with no options in between and no refunds. This is predatory, as many labs and back-to-back lectures run 4.5 to 5 hours, forcing students to pay for a “full day” just to spend an extra 30 to 60 minutes on campus. And if you go overtime, you can expect a $30 parking ticket tucked in your windshield wipers. There isn’t much relief for long-term commitment: a four-week pass costs $140, offering a discount over the daily rate of $7… if you were to park every single day in that month. If you come to campus five days a week, there’s no discount on that four-week pass.
A full-time student (over four hours a day, five days a week for 14 weeks) is expected to pay $490 dollars in parking fees per semester. For many, this $490 parking charge is equivalent to the tuition of an entire three-credit course, effectively forcing students to pay for a class they aren’t allowed to attend just to park for the ones they are. The fees make up part of the $30 million annual revenue that Robbins proudly touts on their website.
If Camosun is truly committed to student affordability through new housing, it must start by addressing predatory parking practices that penalize the very students they claim to support.