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Business Intel

September 2016


CAMPUS OPERATIONS

Employees Need to Park, Too

Clemson University revises its guest parking policy, which results in increased meter revenue and more parking spots for employees.

Before you build a garage or another surface lot, you might want to take a look at your parking policies, advises Dan Hofmann, director, parking and transportation services, Clemson University, Clemson, S. C.

That’s what Hofmann did soon after he arrived on campus. "When I got to the university five years ago, we were giving out free guest permits," Hofmann explains. "On the back of the permit, directions allowed visitors to park in employee parking spaces. Employees were flipping out, saying, ‘We don’t have enough parking.’ Well, maybe we did have enough parking; we just weren’t managing it the way we should." In the first year that Hofmann tracked the data, he discovered that 37,000 free guest permits were issued. "We basically took away 37,000 spaces during the course of a year from employees. We were allowing visitors to take parking supply. In effect, employees were subsidizing visitors and the free parking on campus. We were trying to be visitor-friendly but employees, who had to hunt for spaces, were having a tough time."

Freeing Up Supply

Hofmann points out that employees pay for their permits based on their respective incomes. For example, employees who make less than $30,000, pay $24 for an annual permit, while employees who make more than $90,000 pay $200. He adds that students pay a flat fee of $148 per year. "We can keep it low," he says. "We’re very fortunate—we have no garages. We have not pushed that button yet," Hofmann says. "Instead, we’re working on reducing demand, which is a common theme. When a garage goes up, permit prices get a lot higher because of the required maintenance and debt service."

Smart Meters, More Revenue

Hofmann ended up requiring visitors to use the 400 metered spaces that are spread across campus. "Instead of building more, we freed up supply," he says. "We elected technology and got a huge rate of return. Our meter revenue, which was about $115,000, is now about $450,000, primarily from visitors."

At Clemson, even the meters are now smart, sounding an alarm when they need to be collected or repaired. According to Hofmann, 27 meters with multiple payment options, such as credit card, debit card, dollar bills, coins, and the Tiger One card, manage 400 spaces. Pay-by-cell phone has just been added, and Clemson is about to launch payment by validation codes for departments to use. "These technologies are reducing emissions on campus, improving traffic— and ultimately leading to more revenue."

For more information about campus parking technology and solutions, read "."

SUBMITTED BY Margo Vanover Porter, Locust Grove, Va., who covers higher education business issues for Business Officer


"Overall, two thirds of the more than 1.9 million ACT-tested 2015 [high school] graduates enrolled in college in the fall of that year. However, the majority of those students did not enroll in the type of college for which they expressed a preference when they took the ACT test."
College Choice Report 2015 (www.act.org)

Fast Fact

Quick Clicks

Top-level Reading Roster

From Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike (Scribner, 2016) to When Breath Becomes Air (Random House, 2016) to The Life of the Mind (Mariner Books, 1981), the books on CEOs’ summer reading lists represent a remarkable range of topics and authors.

Thought-provoking Portrait

Students heading into their first year of college this year are mostly 18 years old, have never had to watch or listen to programs at a scheduled time, and have never seen a billboard advertising cigarettes. These and other social and economic realities form the Mindset List of 60 realities that shape the thinking of today’s students. Many faculty and counselors use the annual Beloit College list as the basis for intergenerational conversations and personal icebreakers.


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By The Numbers

Campus CBO Survey Summary

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Source: The 2016 National Profile of Higher Education Business Officers (NACUBO, 2016). For the full report, go to www.nacubo.org/Documents/products/FINAL_CBO_Report.pdf.