For years Oakland University students have griped about the lack of accessible parking spaces on campus. This weekend, in lieu of creating new parking structures, OU attempted to maximize exiting parking failities in a cost-effective way.

Over the past weekend, OU Facilities Management designated a reported total of  72 additional parking spaces across several existing lots for about $2,000, according to a press release issued by OU Communications and Marketing.

In the press release, Terry Stollsteimer, director of Facilities Management, said his group was trying to address the issue of student parking in as creative and convenient way as they could.

“Our goal was to create as many additional parking spaces as possible within existing parking lots,” Stollsteimer said.  “We recognize how tight parking has become as we add new students, and our priority is to accommodate our students’ parking needs as best we can within the current framework.”

Stollsteimer said he would like the university to additional parking in the future.

With parking being one of the most controversial issues on campus, students welcome the recent efforts but say there is still a lot more work to be done.

Leo Sejdarasi, a freshman biology major, said that he has to arrive before 8:00 AM to assure himself a space near his classes.

“At least they’re trying. So that’s a good thing,” Sejdarasi said. “What they really need to do is just add new parking lots around campus. If you look around [the lot by the Oakland Center], it’s pretty much filled up as much as it could be.”

Paul Bongat, a post-baccaluarate working on a biology degree, said the addition of new parking spaces helps, and the parking situation is not as bad as it could be.

“I don’t think it’s sufficient, but I think it’s a start,” Bongat said. “Considering other universities charge quite a bit for parking, it could be worse, but it’s still an issue.”

Like Sejdarasi, Bongat said the only way to adequately address the parking issue is to add new lots.