pelihu wrote:
GMATT73 wrote:
We have an '05 Tahoe that my wife will use for her work/shopping etc. I'll probably either cycle to school or take the bus, depending on where we live. Parking at UW for one student is not only discouraged, it's outrageously expensive.
UW is probably like UCLA. I remember at UCLA, it was extremely difficult to even get a parking permit around campus. There was a lottery, and if you were lucky enough to get a spot, it wasn't necessarily near where you wanted to park, and the cost was several hundred dollars a month. I don't know if it is the same for grad students - Anderson students may have some preference for the lot nearby but it will be expensive in any case. The thing about Westwood is that meter-maids run non-stop. You will absolutely get a ticket if you are 20 minutes over the time. Even if you have a parking permit, you'll probably be hit with several tickets a month because you'll need to go places not near your assigned lot.
Ann Arbor was a lot better. There was metered parking which was pretty cheap (compared with UCLA), and if you went over the time you wouldn't necessarily get a ticket right away. Also, if you paid your ticket right away (within 3 days or something), it was only $5 - compare that with $35 per ticket around UCLA. I laughed at my friends in Ann Arbor when they complained about parking.
Berkeley is just as bad as Westwood, and of course NY is probably even worse, but the public transportation in NY is good enough that I wouldn't take a car.
At Darden, they warn that parking can be expensive, $53 per month for a lot that is connected to the school. I had to bust out in a smile when I saw this. Just about everyone will rack up 3x that amount just in parking tickets each month in Westwood (and probably Berkeley too). They also have parking about 10 minutes away from the school for $13 per month - with a shuttle that will drop you off at the school. Now that is downright cheap.
Funny that you mentioned parking tickets because I received three, and one courtesy notice, while I was visiting for five days last month. Three in five days! One for mistiming the meter, another for partially parking in a yellow zone (I was unloading my bags the first day), and the last one was for trying to sneak in an overnighter in a permit required lot. I swear the weasel must have tagged me between 10pm and 6am!
UW just doesn't have the space to accomodate one vehicle per student. We are on a peninsula surrounded by water, I-5 to the west, and one residential area to the north. The annual fee is now over $1000 p/car; probably about what the average student can expect to spend on books.
By the way, I'm heading back next month for the admit ceremony (on their dime) and refuse to rent a car this time.