Student parking at Northern Kentucky University will be changed next semester so that students are not restricted to parking in either commuter or residential lots.

The Transportation Advisory Board decided to make all student lots open and eliminate the residential lots. Currently, residents have a black parking pass and commuters have a yellow pass both allocated to separate lots.

Student Government Association senator John Rasp deals with university improvements and met with the Transportation board.

“The lots designated for residents were not being filled up, leaving open parking spots that commuters could have filled,” he said.

Rasp added that with the extra beds being added to dorms next semester, parking would be easier if student lots were all open. The Transportation Advisory Board hopes that the new parking garage will reduce some of the crowding from the addition of residents.

“We want to use the existing parking spots as well as we can,” said Rasp.

Norse Hall resident Chris Asbrock believes that parking would be better next semester if student lots were open.

“The commuter lot is closer to my apartment than the residential lot. It makes better sense to allow students to park closer to where they need to be,” said Asbrock.

The Transportation Advisory Board also decided to alternate the colors of the student parking passes from year to year.

“The tags will have different colors each year to prevent students from getting into trouble by using last year’s pass over again,” said Rasp.

The board also discussed paving the parking lot behind the health center, but the idea was turned down because it was too expensive. “It would have cost the University around $300,000 to pave the lot and it wasn’t in the budget,” said Rasp.

Although, student parking will be changed