NIU President John LaTourette has asked the Board of Regents for concept approval of a plan to add up to 1,200 parking spaces on campus. The money for land purchases and construction will come from bond revenue.

The bond revenue that is used to build new parking facilities has to be paid back. In order to do this, fees for parking stickers will have to be raised. The idea of raising parking sticker costs has been unpopular in the past—a proposal for an increase was turned down just last spring.

Part of the reason the increase was turned down was the lack of assurances by the administration that any increased revenue would be used only for parking facilities. This time around, the request for bond revenue funds is in itself partial assurance the fee increase will be used only for parking, because bond revenue funds must be paid back within a limited time.

However, there is always the danger the university will raise student bond revenue fees to try to pay back the bond funds. It is highly doubtful the new parking facilities will be devoted solely to student use. The university also has need for more faculty and staff parking. Raising student fees to pay for parking that is used by non-students would be inexcusable and the administration must assure the parking committee that such action will not be taken.

There are fewer than 5,600 parking spaces on this campus. There were more than 10,000 parking permits issued, resulting in a permit-to-space ratio of about 1.8. An additional 1,200 spaces would provide a ratio of permits to spaces of 1.5, which is the upper limit of the recommendation made by parking experts.

James Harder, vice president of business and operations, has said the university might not acquire 1,200 spaces—he wants to see what the “need” for spaces will be. Well, the “need” is there and it is not going to decrease as long as enrollment and university employment remain at current levels.

Obviously, the university should not acquire greater debt than is necessary to meet its needs—or which it will have difficulty repaying. But President LaTourette said Thursday the parking sticker fees would be “sufficient to cover all costs.” As long as that’s the case, the cost for parking stickers should be raised and plans to acquire the 1,200 spaces should proceed as quickly as possible.