Parking spaces for students on campus don’t always come from NIU Parking Services, as there are some alternative places students can leave their cars.

The Newman Catholic Center and United Campus Ministries offer alternate passes for students.

“We have a few parking spaces students can use here, $3 a day charge or $90 a semester charge,” said Laura Bird, director of religious education.

The Newman Center’s extra spaces are more expensive than NIU parking spaces, but to Henry Handler, a senior computer science major, they are more reliable. He said parking in the Newman Center is very convenient because he is guaranteed a space.

Any student with a parking pass from the Newman Center can park as long as needed.

“Some other parking places have time limits,” Bird said. “We do not have a time limit on parking spaces, you can park all day.”

There are 50 Newman Center parking passes available for students at the beginning of each semester.

The United Campus Ministries also offers an alternative place for students to park.

There are about 15 parking spaces available each semester and only six passes are left for this semester, said Jay Mayer, administrator assistant at the United Campus Ministries. These passes cost $78 per semester.

NIU Parking Services doesn’t see a loss in revenue from students parking in other places, said Bonnie Seebach, a cashier at Parking Services. This is probably because there are limited number of spaces available in these alternative private parking lots, she said.

For some students, the passes available through NIU are more convenient.

“They handle parking passes pretty good,” said junior communication major Regi Brown. “The process is pretty good, compared to a lot of places NIU parking is cheap.”