Chapel Hill, however, offers students a hardship parking option that lowers the price for economically struggling students (but it restricts how many hardship permits are approved).

UNC-Chapel Hill charges students from $50-$441 per semester, depending on permit type.

UNC-Charlotte’s regular yearly permit is $480, but commuter students can get discount remote parking for $201.

They can also choose a cheaper option to park in a far-away lot for $105 per semester.

NC State’s resident students generally pay $220 per semester for a parking pass, and commuter students pay $210 per semester, though students can join a carpool and share the cost.

Low-income students who don’t live on campus have few options except to pay for a permit and tickets.

Instead, the bigger problem is that one slip-up can carry steep fines. The problem isn’t that universities require commuting students to pay for parking at least non-commuting students don’t have to bear the cost of parking if all students paid a fee as they do for athletics. She suggested that universities eliminate “steep fines for just wanting to go to class” and make it easier for new people on campus to navigate the rules.

As Inside Higher Ed’s Maria Shine Stewart tells of her painful experiences with university parking, students and faculty alike get frustrated by the sometimes expensive and often Byzantine system.

Parking complaints are a perennial issue. For students who have to pay extra, it can be around $70 at UNC-Wilmington and NC State, but $120-$195 at UNC-Charlotte. Summer passes, too, can add on costs at some schools, though others include summer parking with the fee for their annual parking pass. Parking passes for schools such as North Carolina State University and UNC-Charlotte charge the most, expecting students to pay $400-$500 for the academic year. In the University of North Carolina system, parking prices can vary greatly. One constant headache for students has been paying for a parking permit to leave their car on campus. When students pay tuition, they also pay a mix of mandatory and optional fees.

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