Last month,  the ANU announced it would be increasing parking rates across campus. These changes will take effect from 1 January 2025. The parking rate increases follow a benchmarking exercise in which ANU examined “nearby parking rates in our broader community” including the parliamentary triangle, the University of Canberra and 30 commercial parking options. 

Students living on campus will be the most affected, with the daily cost of parking increasing from $1.40 to $7.19 per day or by more than 510 percent. Parking for students off campus will increase 276 per cent, from $1.40 to $3.88 daily. 

In comparison, parking costs from 2023 to 2024 increased at a flat rate of 7.8 percent, in alignment with Commonwealth indexation.

However, students aren’t the only ones facing a significant price hike, with staff surface-level permits increasing by 276 percent, parking station permits increasing by 115 percent, and residential hall staff permits increasing by 332 percent. 

The ANU maintains these parking changes will “ensure fair pricing and long-term sustainability for the University’s parking and campus infrastructure” and that their parking rates still remain “10% below the ACT government rates”.

However, these significant rises in parking rates, amidst a cost of living crisis, have stirred frustration and disappointment within the student body. 

In response to the increases, a petition by the ANU Students Association (ANUSA), the National Tertiary Education Union (NTEU) and the ANU Interhall Council has called on the  ANU to “[reverse] the huge fee-hikes to parking”, “[engage] in community consultation for future fee hikes”, and “[strongly] consider the current rates and the needs of ANU staff, students and community members.”

The petition currently has 1,962 signatures. Isabella Coombs, a representative from the Regional, Rural and Remote Students (RRR) Society told Woroni, “These permit price increases will disproportionately affect both current and prospective rural, regional and remote students … the five-fold price increase for resident permits shuts even more students out of living on-campus” 

They argue, “It’s already hard for RRR students to feel that they are welcome at ANU, and these exorbitant price hikes don’t help that at all”.

Many of the accessibility and parking challenges faced by students on campus were acknowledged by a 2019 Acton Campus Master Plan. In this 164-page plan, the University outlined future changes to existing parking stations, including an increase in parking capacity for the Dickson parking station and the construction of new stations. Under this plan, new multi-storey car parking and refurbishments were to be completed before 2023 to address student parking demands and shortages.

This aligned with ANU’s announcement in March 2023 that they would remove 163 surface-level permits for on-campus students, forcing all ANU-managed accommodations on Daley Road to fight for places in Dickson Car Park. 

Students now often park on either Clunies Ross St, or on the ANU campus following these changes. Parking in these locations means drivers risk incurring parking infringements. In the past, the ANU has taken students to the ACT Magistrate Court over unpaid parking infringement. 

It is unclear what is to come of the ANU 2019 Campus Plan. 

As of October 2024,  there have been no further updates for any new parking stations and none of the preexisting ones have increased in capacity. The 2025 changes under what ANU calls ‘“Future Parking and Public Transport Improvements” do not mention the 2019 Campus Plan or any increase in parking availability.

Students share their concerns: 

Woroni reached out to multiple students to get an understanding of student concerns. Benji Allen, a student living off campus told Woroni, “I am utterly bewildered that the ANU genuinely believes that now, during a cost of living crisis, is a good time to raise costs even higher for the average student. Students are not known for being wealthy, with many struggling to get by as it is.”

Dylan Adams, a student living at Burton & Garran explained, 

“The ANU parking changes show me that the ANU is so preoccupied with solving their debt that they not only forgot to protect the students that study here but actively sought to use them as a money-making mechanism … The increase in price of the parking means I will likely be unable to afford a parking permit next year.”

Another on-campus student said,  

“I think it’s too expensive! … if you’re an on-campus student and already have to pay rent, having prices increase by that much is a slap in the face, especially if you need your car to get to work …  it’ll make me more broke, which sucks.”

A student at Yukembruk Hall expressed,

“Those fuck heads don’t realise the struggles students have to manage, the least they could do is not use parking to fish money out of vulnerable students.”

Another student living on Daley Road told Woroni,

“The parking changes are stupid, to be honest … It is really rude and unfair to students who need to use their cars in Canberra, especially when our rents are also going up and so is everything else. Having a little spot to place a car shouldn’t be stupidly priced.”

These increases have come at a time of ever-growing financial struggles at the University, with staff being asked to forgo an expected 2.5 percent December pay rise as per their current Enterprise Arrangement. The increased rates will likely add another burden on students and staff.