Parking fees may seem irrelevant in higher education, since most of the focus is on salaries, health insurance or retirement plans. Free parking for NIU instructors and staff is a tiny but meaningful gesture that may boost employee happiness and well-being.

Sandy Lopez, director of the Undocumented Student Resource Center, thinks free parking would help morale.

“I think any perk like that is a nice addition, a nice benefit,” Lopez said. “I think anytime you can give something to your faculty and staff that are dedicated to their students in the universities, I think it’s a good perk.”

Free parking also shows respect for faculty and staff efforts. If staff feel valued and supported, they are more inclined to work hard and contribute to NIU.

Jessica Nunez, NIU’s coordinator of parking services, said anytime an individual parks on campus, they must either have a parking permit or utilize one of the short-term parking options on campus.

“Our rules and regulations apply to everyone on campus,” Nunez said. “If you are not parked in the appropriate area for your permit or have not paid to park, you are susceptible to receiving a parking ticket.”

Faculty and staff must commute to work, and parking is an added cost. NIU could show their commitment to employee well-being by offering free parking. Removing parking permit fees could minimize financial stress and improve work environments for NIU’s faculty and staff. 

“Parking services is a self-sustaining department. This means that we do not receive any funding from the university,” Nunez said. “The revenue we receive from parking fees goes towards things such as parking lot maintenance and repairs, which can be very costly, as well as operational and personnel expenses.”

While parking services may be self-sustaining, NIU could support them by allocating resources for infrastructure and administrative assistance that would not be attributed directly to the department.

Besides spending on a parking pass for the semester, faculty and staff also spend money on gas and other repairs for their vehicles, quickly adding to their expenses. Offering them free parking would lessen some of those costs.

“There is a free green parking permit that offers remote parking in lot K on the west side of campus,” Nunez said. “This is available to faculty/staff and students. We have given out 130 of those (passes) this year.”

Considering the location of lot K and the number of free parking passes given out, it is clear commuters are looking to save on parking fees. The green parking permit holders are willing to overlook the distance between the lot and main campus buildings, adding time to their daily routine. 

Angelica Mendoza, assistant director of the Undocumented Student Resource Center, said she was not aware of lot K.

“It wouldn’t make sense for me to park all the way across campus when then I need to figure out how I’m gonna get to my department,” Mendoza said. “I think, I guess I had to rely on getting on the Huskie bus line, but even then that would take time.”

Commuting, particularly with parking stress, takes up family and personal time. NIU could  improve employee work-life balance by eliminating parking costs and hassles.

“Because of where I’m situated in my town, it takes me about 10 to 15 minutes to even get to the highway,” Lopez said. “So while I’m only like 25 miles or so from DeKalb, it takes me a good 30 to 35 minutes to get from door to door, if I find a good parking spot next to my building.”

Another pain point is the limited number of spaces for faculty and staff parking, as some lots have been changed to allow students to use them as well.

“A lot of benchmarking that parking services do is with other Illinois 4-year public institutions. Some examples of alternative parking options that we have seen are universities who have zoned parking rather than color-coded parking,” Nunez said.

Zoned parking means those who want to park closer to buildings would pay a premium compared to those who choose to park on the outskirts of campus. This alternative would not work because faculty and staff would still have to pay, and it would be at a higher price than the current pricing.

Free parking may appear unimportant in the great scheme of NIU’s operations, yet it affects faculty and staff. Simply providing free parking may create a more supportive and employee-friendly campus atmosphere.