CWU has implemented a new process for obtaining an on-campus parking permit this school year. The change occurred because of the new system that most departments upgraded to over the summer.

“The school is encouraging departments to go [online], in fact, the system is the same program, only a different module, as housing,” Program Specialist Trish Swanson said.

In previous years, there was the Flex-system, meaning everything had to be handwritten. Students had to have handwritten vehicle registration forms, as well as a written form of appeals. The process is now online through MyCWU accounts. Students login and then go to their housing page, click “Links,” then “My Parking,” where a login page once again appears. Once logged in, students can click “Apply for a Permit” and fill out their vehicle information. However, before beginning the process, a pop-up appears that says to have the vehicle’s registration handy so that the vehicle information is entered correctly into the system.

The permit application was moved online in order to make the process simpler for students.

“Students don’t have to wait in lines, they can plan ahead, order their permit, pay for it ahead of time, and so it makes it quicker,” Swanson said. “We do the 24-hour turn-over, so you order it, and then you should get your permit within 24 hours.”

The new system is also easier for staff members in Parking Services.

“For us, it’s easier because the data entry is mostly on the students, so when license plates come up wrong, or whatever, it is whatever the student put in,” Swanson said. “It also allows students to update their vehicles and move their permits over to other vehicles via registering that vehicle on their My Parking account.”

According to Swanson, the system still has some kinks to be worked out, such as importing the data from the old system to the new one. At the beginning of the quarter, most students didn’t know the application was online this year, so many of them didn’t get their permit in 24 hours.

“We processed as quickly as we could,” Swanson said.

Despite the hiccups, students find the new system to be more efficient than the previous one.

“It’s easier than having to wait in line forever,” second year student Laynie Moran said. “I thought it was really simple when I got online this year because you put in your information online and then just go pick it up.”

Second year student Leslie Allen agrees with Moran about the accessibility of the new system. “Yes, the process is so simple, but to be fair I didn’t know what the process was before,” Allen said.

At the beginning of the quarter, there seemed to be a lot of confusion about how to apply for a parking permit, since Parking Services wasn’t allowed to mass email students about the change. Swanson, along with other members of Parking Services, hope now that students are on campus, there will be less confusion about how to apply for one next quarter.