However, across the state and close to home, enrollment at many community colleges plunged during the coronavirus pandemic. Other initiatives included a tuition relief program, halting parking citations, providing more laptops and encouraging professors to embrace zero-cost textbooks. The goal was to relieve students’ financial burdens and increase enrollment by encouraging student involvement on campus. “If the state doesn’t come back and dig and direct the district to start charging for parking again, then it’s the district’s discretion whether or not they want to do it independently,” Hinshaw said. In 2019-2020, those earnings dropped to $513, 370 – a 56% decrease.Īs of now, free parking will most likely remain through spring 2023 and could potentially stay that way for a while, El Camino College Business Manager Jeffrey Hinshaw said. In 2017-2018, El Camino College brought in $1,169,179 in parking passes. Meanwhile, Santa Monica College has an $85 parking fee for parking on the main campus.Īccording to the California Community College Chancellor’s Office Datamart, El Camino College enrolled 24,354 students in the fall of 2017. Los Angeles Southwest College charged $20 and a $2 daily fee. West LA College offered $27 preferred parking and $20 regular parking. 9, 2022, El Camino’s Office of Marketing announced via an email that parking permits and daily passes were no longer necessary for spring 2022.Įl Camino College, Compton, West LA, LA Southwest, and Santa Monica have waived their parking fees for the current fall semester.Ĭompton College offered a $20 parking permit with a daily fee of $3. In the following year, the parking permit machines brought in $2,607–a 98% decrease. In the 2019-2020 academic year, the parking permit machines at El Camino brought in $196,393. Local colleges have experienced revenue losses from parking, food services, facility rental, and other programs. However, while free parking remains popular with students, El Camino College has depended on financial assistance to compensate for the lost revenue from parking and other school-related funds. With enrollment decreasing and students acclimating to a post-COVID campus, one perk has been free parking and no citations as long as people park in designated areas at El Camino College. “So, it’s a waste to pay for the whole semester.” “I don’t take a lot of classes on campus,” Dao said. With classes being $46 per unit, Dao said paying an additional $35 parking fee would not be worth it for him.

Mechanical engineering major Minh Dao, 27, commutes to El Camino College in his minivan, spending $100 per month to fill up his gas tank.įor Dao, paying for parking would have a fiscal impact when he is only taking one class for the semester.

El camino college parking permit