The lots are owned by the IMU and have no affiliation with IU Parking Operations, which sells student parking passes and manages IU garages.
Hollie Lutz , assistant director for meeting and conference services at the IMU , deals with parking on a regular basis.
She said IMU parking prices never rise very quickly and are in response to outside factors.
“The cost of labor has gone up,” Lutz said. “The University has raised its minimum wage. Everything has gone up in price.”
IU Parking Operations also raised the prices of parking permits this year, ranging from an additional $37.56 for the A pass to $5.52 more for an F pass. Parking garage rates did not increase from the past year, said Sara Murray,?office assistant to the parking operations office.
Since 2004, the IMU rates have gone up 40 cents per half hour during the weekday, but the increase between individual years was never more than a nickel.
Lutz explained that keeping drivers happy with the IMU lots is about finding a middle ground.
“We try to create balance, so the guests of the IMU and students who desire to park in the middle of campus can do so,” she said. “Parking in the center of campus is at a premium. If you make the price too low the parking lots would be filled early in the morning.“
By offering a half-off discount on parking to patrons, the IMU is attempting to bring their customers into the building, she said.
In the past fiscal year, 161,284 cars parked in the IMU lots . A decade ago, about 70,000 more cars were parking in the IMU lots each year. Lutz attributed the decline to improved bus transportation and increasing numbers of IU lots.
She remembers 10 years ago when cars waited in long lines to pay for IMU parking, she said.
“I understand no one likes to pay for parking.” she said. “If it was a free lot it would be sold out instantaneously. I don’t know of anywhere where people thank you to take your money to park.”
