Increase of parking fees at Sunderland Campus
Category: Sunderland Ideas
Voting closed
Since the announcement of the increase of car parking charges on campus, Your SU has been working hard to meet with the University, staff trade unions, and students in order to voice student opposition to the rise. Together with Unison and UCU, we proposed alternatives including sliding charge scales for more affordable options, a lower single monthly payment, reducing the cost whilst reserving other spaces at a higher rate to those who want them, and relooking at University contracts with other parking facilities. Unfortunately, the University has now implemented the new car parking charges, active as of 1st August 2024. Despite this, we will continue to advocate on behalf of students who are impacted by the rise of car parking charges. If you are struggling with finances you can reach out to the University Student Financial Guidance Team, which offers confidential, impartial, and non-judgemental financial guidance to students free-of-charge.
Please note, a 'thumbs up' response is equivalent to signing the petition, with a 'thumbs down' being that you disagree with the petition.
On Thursday 16th May 2024, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO) announced to staff and students that the price of parking on campus will be increasing from the 1st August 2024. To read further into their email, and find the enormous increase in parking fees felt like nothing short of a betrayal from our beloved University.
As outlined by the CFO, his plans are to charge £6 a day (up by £4.70) or £1.60 per hour (up by £1.25). As some staff and students live in locations such as Teeside, Durham and Northumberland, and have no other choice but to drive in for lectures and other University based sessions, needless to say that this announcement has come as a shock; also to staff and students that may live closer to the University but need to drive and park on campus.
As the Student Voice Representative for the School of Nursing, I understand that for some of our Nursing courses, our students spend 50% of their course on campus in lectures, simulation or other sessions. For those that have no choice but to drive, this is extremely worrying because some can not justify attending sessions on campus with such fees in place unnecessarily. For some student nurses, this is also causing stress as they may not have the time to work outside of their already very busy, and full time course. I strongly believe that this will be reflective across other schools within the University; alongside the fact that these fees will reduce the interaction and attendance of lectures and other sessions and events on campus.
Please sign this petition to not only have your say, but to try and prevent this awful change from happening.
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University of Sunderland Students' Union
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Comments
The increase is far to high.
Unrealistic increase for students already struggling in a cost of living crisis in a known deprived area.
Insane. Only going to discourage attendance.
It’s thumbs UP TO SIGN not thumbs down
Very misleading poll. The thumbs up means you disagree and thumbs down mean you agree. Not very fair to have conducted it this way.
With the current money issues being faced by most I think the rise is the wrong way to raise revenue at this time.
It’s absolutely ridiculous to charge £6 a day trying to live of just a student loan is hard enough without having to pay this.
This is daylight robbery. This isn’t fair for the other students that might not be able to afford £6 per parking, at most this is £24 a week at most, £104 a month approx. It’s not fair that past students, including myself pay £1.30 all day parking at City Campus and St Peter’s, and then present and future students would have to pay increasingly more. It’s unfair, not a lot of students have jobs, and some do to pay to come to study. The price of the food and drinks were bad enough. Treat all as equals. I’m sorry I’m just very passionate and I care about the potential that other students could deliver in their studies without worrying over their bank accounts.
Disgusting. Already paying to come here now need to pay an extra £120 for parking. Horrid!!
The CFO can see a drop in student intake then. Clearly didn’t think about how he will drive the students away.
Mental health is preached at this uni yet clearly disregarded. Money is a major stress factor for people and making us pay upto an extra £30 A WEEK on top of the massive uni fees we’re paying is absolutely dreadful.
A greedy and disgraceful move by the University - a small increase may have been tolerated but what they are imposing on those who have no choice is disgusting.
I simply can not afford £6 per day to park at the university, I’m already paying a fee to attend the uni, it’s unmanageable.
For those with children to attend a day of lectures will now cost close to £15 a day with this new increase in parking fees. Absolutely disgraceful as this now prevents attendance when people are already struggling financially. Shame on the implementer of such a greedy decision. Tuition fees stay the same but so do maintenance grants so why punish students financially. Intake numbers will take another hit
The increase is unjustifiable, a student income is stretched already due to inflation, this increase will not only impact students financially but impact education throughout the university
This is so unrealistic for students who are already struggling in the middle of a cost of living crisis, a small increase may have been manageable but increasing by 461% is scandalous
£30 a week for a full time student is far to much. I barely have much left over every month never mind after pulling out a extra £120 to park my car at a place I'm already paying 9k a year to be at
This is completely unfair. Many students are already struggling to make ends meet!
Ridiculous, considering how much time we spend on campus, the uni will find a lot of people not attending lectures because they can’t afford the cost of parking on top of everything else
£6 a day for up to 5 days a week whilst being a student and on a longer course than normal due to teaching weeks is unmanageable. Way too big of an increase with no justification as still no car parking spaces being built.
Ridiculous, considering half the time you can not get parked and they expect you in, all it’s going to do is force people to not come in because they can’t afford it on top of everything else they pay for; but yet the student will be punished for there attendance, shocking the uni need to think over this very carefully
Disgusting, living off a student loan is hard enough without this prince increase.
Surely this is going to have the opposite effect to increasing the the universities income, as students will no longer be able to attend and the lecturers will no longer want to work there or may not be able to afford to. I suppose for all those left there will definitely be parking available now.
Disgusting abuse of power, Sunderland university is all about the money, and less about the quality of education.
This increase makes higher education almost inaccessible to people on a budget.
If they want to increase the prices at all, they first need to sort out the top carpark next to cityspace….. gravel, potholes, no bay marking, people parking almost on the main road, cars blocking each other in….. its a free for all and I don’t even think it’s monitored by the parking attendants….. I know the uni is short of a few bob but make sure what you’re charging us for is fit for purpose!
Students already struggle massively with funds amidst the cost of living crisis, very few of us can afford to pay £6 every day we come to the university. For a student who’s in 5 days a week that’s £186 pounds a month. A 333% increase is astronomically high!
Yeah charge people who already pay to come here... Just a stealth tax and a blatant money grab
unfair for student who r struggling to work with study and child care.
This change will only cause more stress and problems for students and the Uni should pride themselves on their affordable parking, not increase it which will impact students academics greatly.
How can we be expected to pay 6 pound a day, 30 pound a week, as a full time student to park on campus. The parking situation is a joke as it is without the price increase! Not all students are able to get a job alongside studying, whether this is down to disabilities, caring commitments, demanding timetables, etc. It’s an abuse of power by the CFO and quite frankly disgusting to expect students to fork out an extra £120 a month when we’re currently in a cost of living crisis! Can’t wait to see the huge drop in attendance figures.
Absolutely shocking. An increase of 252.9%. Where's the student support? Just another thing to worry about. 😢
Fully support the petition. A £4.70 rise is extortionate and will push people into hardship in already challenging times.
The increase is disgusting putting it up to 6 pounds is not right people have other massive expenses coming to university as well as paying tuition this is shocking! Makes people not want to come in.
The cost of parking will most definitely be a deterrent for students. If student numbers are already low, why add another hurdle for us to jump? The stress of trying to get parked is already high with their being such limited spaces. What is available on campus for us who travel in for over an hours drive for a 1 hour lecture, to make it worth selling a kidney to be able to park? The gym is extra cost, the food is extortionate, the library is half the size it was. There is little appeal to actually attend campus and then pay £6 a day for the privilege.... especially when timetabling give you one, 1 hour lecture some days!
Trying to scam students for mediocre parking facilities that will already force students who have been hit hard by accommodation rent increases, cost of living crisis, expensive childcare, and increases in bills to force them to work pretty much full time hours on top of a full time course with 40 hour placement weeks. You’ll be seeing burn out, drop outs, and less made from student intake. It’s an absolutely disgusting cash grab.
No though what so ever has gone into the cost of living crisis that students already face, £30 a week on student loans that have to be paid back! How thoughtful thank you for adding to our struggle
The increase is far too high for students and there is a cost of living crisis so means that students won’t be able to afford parking charges at university when attending lectures and seminars
Criminal man 3 pound max
The increase is way to ridiculous! a lot of students are in from 8/9am to 5pm for 5 days a week thats £30 a week, £120 a month. its daylight robbery for students who are struggling financially!! this is wrong!!
An increase to be in line with other university parking fees would have been acceptable, however this rise takes parking costs to well above other institutions
the increase is so bad, i would understand if it was up to like 2.50/3 pound but not 6
On top of the fees we pay, £120 per month simply to be able to attend uni and park (some of us have no option but to drive!) this will simply discourage attendance. I've already had friends in tears saying they can't continue their study if these charges go through.
Opposition to sudden large-scale parking fee increase.
Outrageous price increase! Announcing this during “Mental health awareness week” do better UoS!
What an absolute joke.
Incredibly surprised 7 people agree with this but hoping it's simply confusion with the thumbs up/down meanings. This is stupid and ridiculous, most students can't afford this. It feels like they don't want us here anymore
It already costs a fortune in weekly petrol costs driving from Teesside to Sunderland. It is going to be unaffordable if these parking prices go ahead in August
This huge hike in parking charges is completely unrealistic for students and for the way living costs are for all involved.
Completely unfair for students that are already struggling financially. For the 4 days a week in lectures this is now going to cost £24 per week, £96+ per month which is an increase of £75.20 per month. When already having to pay for fuel to get to and from university and to and from placements as well as parking prices at placement areas this is simply disgraceful. I hope the concerns of students are looked into and something can be done so that this rise does not go ahead.
Absolutely ridiculous to charge 6 pound, students are already struggling at the cost living.
For any student who commutes in 4 or more days per week, that's nearly £100 a month to park a car at the university we already pay to attend... insanity
This will discourage attendance, as a trainee teacher it is frowned upon to be working alongside placement, student loans won’t cover this. An increase of 400% is disgraceful. As students we do not have this type of money.
Absolute disgrace!
This increase is too high. If this goes through, anyone who can get a bus should do so.
The increase amount is crazy. To attend campus for 3 days would equal to nearly £80 per month I don't understand how they can justify a student paying this amount in parking fees
I would an increase of 20-50p but not £4.70 absolute shambles clearly don’t want staff and students attending
The increase from £1.30/day to £6/day is outrageous and unaffordable for most of us who have no other choice but to drive to campus and classes. By far, my student experience was enjoyable, but in all honesty, this news has created such a bad vibe to it all. I believe it is not at all student friendly and will have serious repercussions.
The increase from £1.30/day to £6/day is outrageous and unaffordable for most of us who have no other choice but to drive to campus and classes. By far, my student experience was enjoyable, but in all honesty, this news has created such a bad vibe to it all. I believe it is not at all student friendly and will have serious repercussions.
The timetable for our programme has never been considerate tot the time and resources we input in attending workshops, not to mention how environmentally unfriendly this is, so with classes sprinkled throughout the week and wit this increase of parking fee “joke” I am most certainly sure of the “quality” of our learning experience. This will seriously backfire. Extremely disappointing! ☹️
If the prices remain this high, I will look at other options to complete my masters. It's such a shame as I value the staff and support at Sunderland and have achieved great grades with their support. I can't justify £6 a day when I am not getting any financial income and struggling with the cost of living crisis. I have no other option than to drive as I have parental responsibilities. There is no direct transport to the university from Birtley and three buses would be to time consuming.
I just wanted to add that those (including myself) who work as student ambassadors are being further penalised because we will have to pay £6 to work short shifts. I know the university relies on ambassador support and I know I won't be able to work short assignments if I have to pay this ridiculous amount each time
I for one will not be able to afford £6 a day 5 days a week students already have to pay petrol costs and tunnel costs ontop of there journeys. Also we pay nearly £10,000 a year for our course! Parking is a nightmare not enough spaces
Really unfair for all students, I live 25 miles away from the university and chose this university because I preferred the structure of adult nursing course compared to other local universities. If I was in this position again and knew about the added £6 parking charge my university choice wouldn’t have stayed the same
As a nursing student on a 46 week/year course, this is going to hit us harder than most other students. Who are on 32/35 week courses. On top of placements where we are doing on average 37.5 hours a week for months at a time, only supported by the NHS LSF which works out that over the 3 years we earn approximately 6.25 gbp/hr. Cost of living going up and my maintenance loan has actually gone DOWN this year because I’m a third year student and toe government does not provide a loan to cover final year summer expenses despite our academic year running into September. Considering the average age of the students on the nursing course is higher than other undergrad degrees, with more students needing childcare arrangements which is extortionate in itself, slowly but surely the price of everything at the university is increasing but the income of students is decreasing. More students will require financial support, higher rates of stress, drop out and poor attendence. We recognise that the university works as a business and like everyone else, its costs are going up with a reduction in income, but such a large increase for students who are well into their course is unjust. I would support a small increase in charges but not an increase this large.
The charge is too high for both students and staff, very discouraging and a discussion is needed to balance cost out across the university, that’s a big increase in one go a subtle change may have been ok but that’s a huge increase for all
Shameful move by the University executive claiming it’s a result of tuition fees not going up. Neither have our student loans! Shame on you!
Discourage student attendance, students will park else where / ultimately defeating the purpose to raise cash for the university
I travel through the Tyne Tunnel to get to campus. With the recent price increase of this service along with parking charges going up it has become a serious concern for how much time I spend on site as its completely unaffordable.
I'm on the minimum student finance that I can get, I am using it to save up for important things in future but if this keeps up I'm going to end up using it all on parking! Ridiculous