El Camino College students who plan to commute and park on campus in the fall 2024 semester will have to pay for parking permits.

Permits will cost $20 for every fall and spring semester and $7 for winter and summer semesters, beginning this fall.

The Board of Trustees approved the reinstatement of parking permits for El Camino students and employees during its meeting on Monday, May 20.

El Camino employees will get parking permits but will not be charged for parking unless they are in special parking spaces reserved for them, Vice President of Student Services Jeff Stephenson said.

El Camino students have not had to pay for parking since spring 2022, as part of the college’s effort to increase enrollment after COVID-19.

Carlos Lopez, vice president of Academic Affairs, said offering free parking during the pandemic helped increase enrollment at El Camino.

Now, however, the college faces financial struggles with the current budget deficit.

“As a result of the budget crisis we didn’t just commit to cutting costs, we also looked at places to generate revenue,” Lopez said.

According to the Institutional Research and Planning Data enrollment trends dashboard, 11,885 students were enrolled in in-person classes at El Camino during the fall 2023 semester.

If every one of those students parked on campus and paid for the $20 parking permit, an estimated $237,700 could be generated in revenue.

Stephenson said the revenue from parking fees will be used for the maintenance of parking lot structures, including lighting and painting stripes for the parking spaces, in accordance with Title 5 California Code of Regulations.

“We utilize those fees in order to help maintain the parking lots, keep them safe, patch holes, things like that,” he said.

Lopez said he wants students to be aware of the reduced price of parking permits, as they used to cost students $35 every semester.

“It is a mitigating factor for us, to make sure that we’re not impacting students in any extraordinary way,” he said.

Student Trustee Connor Lai said although parking permits are a significant source of revenue for the district, he understands the financial impact on students.

“If you demonstrate financial need, [parking] fees will get covered or waived so students will not have to face that financial burden,” he said.

Lai also said El Camino’s new parking fees are significantly lower compared to other colleges.

Santa Monica College parking permits cost $93.50 per semester for fall and spring. For winter and summer, the cost is $49.50.

West Los Angeles College permits are $27 for preferred parking and $20 for regular parking in the fall and spring semesters. In the winter and summer semesters, preferred parking is $10 and regular parking is $7.

Cerritos College permits cost $40 per semester for fall and spring and $30 with the California College Promise Grant. The cost during winter and summer semesters is $25.

Lopez said El Camino’s new permit prices are competitive with other colleges in the area and should not affect future enrollment.

“If we were much more expensive than everybody around us then I could definitely see [permit pricing] impacting [enrollment] because it may be a decision factor for some students,” Lopez said.