Starting Thursday, Nov. 1, a $3 charge will be added to IOUs when leaving the parking garage if the student does not have a Tartan card or money present.
According to Paul Murphy , director of Business Services, writing an IOU for a student requires the attendant to get the license plate number and check to see if the person has any outstanding balances. Murphy said on average, it takes three minutes to get those tasks completed.
“We are trying to regenerate money we are losing,” said Murphy. “We have lost thousands of dollars from IOUs.”
On average, 600 to 700 IOUs are written every month. According to Murphy, 8,015 IOUs were written in the fall of 2011.
With the new fee, Sinclair is hoping to reduce expenses by 50 percent and see a higher exiting rate by January or February of the upcoming school year.
A new exit lane was also added on Mead Street in an effort to make the process of leaving the parking garage as quick as possible.
“We want the students to be able to come and leave the parking garage without the back up,” said Murphy.
This past summer, a fundraiser was held in Lot H called the Lot H auction. Donations received generated $381.50. The money raised was used to pay 40 different students IOU fees, which were chosen at random.
“[The fee] is coming for the right reasons,” said Murphy.
Using your Tartan card can also reduce the cost to park. Instead of paying $2 in cash, you’ll only pay $1.
“Once the train stops it’s very difficult to get it moving again,” said Murphy. “I’m hoping that with the fee it will speed things up.”
For questions about the change to IOUs, email Murphy at parking@sinclair.edu.