Jack Harkins
The new figure for the upper-class student “Red” parking permit represents an abrupt change, having jumped nearly $75 from the 2024-25 year’s price tag.
Ithaca College Parking Services has raised the price of the upper-classman student parking permit from $152 to $225 for the 2025-2026 academic year. Students are required to purchase a permit and display it on their vehicle in order to park ticket-free in the “Red” lots — distinct from the faculty-only “Blue” lots — which are monitored by the Office of Public Safety between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
While the costs of the first-year and graduate permits have remained stagnant at $500 and $90, respectively, the new figure for the upper-class student “Red” parking permit — which is for sophomores, juniors and seniors — represents an abrupt change, having jumped nearly $75 from the 2024-25 year’s price tag. The college did not announce the decision via Intercom or address questions about the administrative process of its implementation.
The Parking Services’ fifteen-page Rules and Regulations handbook contains a clause on the permit fee, stipulating that the permit fees rise on a yearly basis of ½ the percentage change of the tuition increase.
The cost of the upper-class parking permit rose nearly 50% ahead of the 2025-26 school year, more than the approximately 1.75% the college would arrive at if it halved the percentage change of this year’s tuition increase as per that formula.
That same clause also illustrates the college’s ability to override its policy in exceptional cases. “Upper-class permit fees generally increase annually using this formula but are subject to change upon the direction and approval of the College Administration and Financial Services,” the handbook states.
Tim Downs, senior vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer of IC, spoke with The Ithacan in August and explained, in part, the college’s rationale for the parking fee increase.
“Every dollar we raise is a dollar less we have to cut at the end of the day to get back in line,” Downs said. “That side is really complicated, and usually takes multiple years to be able to build up. A lot of time, [the] things we do, we do them for the incoming class and less for the upper class.”
Downs said that raising the price of the parking pass was an easy change to implement to help increase revenue for the college.
“That’s just lock, stock and barrel,” Downs said.“This is the new parking fee. You want to park there tomorrow? This is what the rate is.”
Senior Seth Michaud did not notice when he purchased the parking permit that its price had risen drastically, but said that when he found out afterward that it had, he understood it as consistent with the college’s tendency to squeeze funds from its students for trivial things. Michaud mentioned past incidents at IC that left him feeling slighted by the college, including a first-time parking violation he committed during his first year.
“I got fined $40 for parking over the line once,” Michaud said. “That was [during] my freshman year, so three years ago, but still, $40 is a lot of money. Sometimes I’m absent-minded and park over the line and … I haven’t since then because I’m not paying 40 dollars again.”
Michaud said some students’ forgetfulness complicates the dynamic.
“They’ll make the mistake again,” Michaud said. “And I think that’s also what the college is probably counting on. They just want people to [mess] up many times.”
Amy Shippos, record services and transportation coordinator, said there are options for students to pay the permit price incrementally, on a week-by-week basis.
“When someone has approached me who says that they can’t afford the $225 … we’ll work out payment arrangements,” Shippos said. “And people are more than welcome to contact the Parking Office. And we would do that for anybody, if the price was the discourager of getting it.”
Shippos said students can pay toward the cost of the parking permit at a rate of $20 per week for the first three weeks, and $50 per week thereafter. Once a student has reached the $225 benchmark, they are permitted to keep their permit for the remainder of the academic year and refunded on any payments made in excess of its total cost. Parking permits are still available for purchase on the college’s online Parking Portal.