It’s no secret. TCU has a parking problem.You hear it all the time. A student spent an hour or so trying to find a parking place. He or she parked illegally simply because there was no place else to park, and he or she had to get to class.

I realize parking is an age-old issue that has been addressed and debated many times, but that doesn’t make it any less true. Tiring or not, this issue needs to be worked out because it’s obviously not going away.

Why else would you keep hearing complaints that are so commonplace you could mumble them in your sleep?

TCU isn’t alone in this problem. Practically every university in the country has issues with parking, and I realize it’s not an easy thing to solve. If it were, I’d like to think we would have seen some improvement by now.

What I don’t understand is why TCU hasn’t employed a simple and effective solution to the problem – parking garages.

There is something to be said for the construction of parking garages on campus. The most important, it will allow for more parking in less space – something TCU desperately needs.

Two main arguments I’ve heard against the construction of parking garages are that they are expensive and ugly. The first point I can understand. Expense should certainly be considered in every undertaking by the university, but it should not be the primary focus.

However, I can’t agree with the justification that parking garages aren’t built because they are ugly.

OK, so there’s no glamour to them, but the attractiveness of a structure is so minor when considering how much parking garages could help.

When parking spaces are not able to meet the demand of the student population, the aesthetic nature of a parking garage is trivial.

And really, what parking lot is pleasing to the eye?

Visually pleasing or not, the fact remains that parking is a major issue.

Seeing as how our response to date has been to clear off more space for additional parking lots, I think it’s safe to scratch that idea and try something else. For all the space parking lots take up, it simply hasn’t been enough.

Parking garages hold more cars per unit of surface area than parking lots. This would not only allow for more parking opportunities on campus, but it would also allow for the growth of the campus, which is needed with our ever-increasing student community.

But still the question remains.

When will the day come that we finally see some solutions to this long-festering problem? Will we ever?

Elise Conor is a senior advertising/public relations major from Edmond, Okla.