UND’s parking permit system has undergone changes for the fall semester.

Starting this year, students who live in on-campus apartments such as University Place or other campus owned apartments will be able to purchase an APT permit for $5 extra when accompanied with a HAPT parking permit. The HAPT permit allows students who live on campus to park in the designated lots, which are located near campus housing, as well as other smaller lots on campus. The APT permit allows a second vehicle to park only near the students’ apartment. The APT permit is meant to replace the decals that were used in previous years to identify cars belonging to students living in campus apartments.

“Taking the decals on and off of the cars could be inconvenient when students got new cars or car repairs,” UND Parking Business Manager Robyn Bancroft said.

The new APT permit can be easily taken off the dashboard or rear view mirror of the car the same way as the other parking permits.

“The purpose was to make the permits more uniform and user friendly for students and eliminate confusion,” Associate Vice President for Finance and Operations Peggy Lucke said.

Additional changes have been made to other parking permit zones as well. Students with S permits, which are parking permits available for students living off campus that work in the green parking zones, will now be able to park more easily at the parking ramp on campus, which will be off-limits to students with brown H permits before 3:30 p.m.

“We are trying to encourage students living on campus to ride the shuttle bus, which will hopefully reduce traffic on University Avenue,” Lucke said.

The fourth and fifth levels of the ramp will have a pool of shared spaces for S permit holders and pay-as-you-go parking for non-permit holders.

A new mobile app, “Park Me” will be available this fall for students and visitors. The app is designed to find available spots on campus in locations like the parking ramp and the lots with parking meters on campus.

Some students said parking on campus is overpriced considering they may not be able to park in their desired location.

“I started parking in neighborhoods off campus since the cost for permits are so high and don’t even guarantee you a spot,” junior Kianna Davis said.

However, Lucke said UND does everything it can to keep expenses for students as low as possible.

“We have adequate parking for students on and off campus, just not always right at the front door,” Lucke said. “There is always parking available on campus,”

Larry Philbin is the News Editor of The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]