Ball State raked in more than half of a million dollars in parking tickets during the 2012-13 academic year.

The university made $534,264 in revenue for 2012-13 and issued 22,531 parking tickets for the entire year of 2013, according to the most recent public records obtained by The Daily News.

Allison Gregory, a sophomore marketing and advertising major, received a parking ticket in 2013 after leaving her car in the DeHority Complex lot for about an hour and a half.

“They’re very strict at Ball State,” Gregory said. “ ... They do a good job and they follow the rules, but sometimes, it would be nicer if they were more lenient.”

According to the public records, the most common place on campus to receive a ticket is the John R. Emens Auditorium parking structure — from Jan. 1, 2013, to April 1, 2014, the university issued 4,295 tickets in those parking spaces.

That structure is followed by the lot between the Architecture Building and the Whitinger Business Building with 2,507 tickets issued during the same period. In third place was the lot between the Teachers College and the Art and Journalism Building with 2,293 tickets issued. 

Nancy Wray, Parking Services office manager, said her department is just trying to uphold Ball State’s rules.

“We have the university regulations that we have to follow,” she said.

Wray said the money from parking tickets is used for upkeep of all of the parking lots and to provide students with free shuttle service.

Ticket prices vary from $20 for overtime parking to $125 for parking in a space for people with disabilities, according to Ball State’s website. Ticket prices increase if they are not paid within 10 business days and a hold is placed on transcripts and class signups until they are paid off.

Ball State’s prices are similar to those of Indiana University and Purdue University. IU charges $50 for parking in the wrong lot and $25 for staying too long at a meter. A ticket costs $35 at Purdue for the same violations.

Wray said she doesn’t think Parking Services is too strict.

“There is no quota on parking tickets,” she said. “So if the violations are there, then we write the ticket for the violation.”

Joel Summers, a sophomore English education major, received four tickets during his first year at Ball State.

The first violation was after Super Bowl Sunday this year. He moved his car so he could take it to church that morning, but he forgot about it because of the game. The next morning, he found two tickets for $30 each.

“I definitely think at least their system should be changed up a bit, for how they go about giving tickets,” Summers said. “Both times, I’ve gotten two tickets, even though [my car] was really only there for [one day].”

He said he would like the university to implement some kind of texting alert so that students would know they received the first ticket.

Summers said the tickets are too pricey and should go up in price incrementally based on number of offense or ticket instead of one flat fee.

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