As the sun beats down on the beginning days of the fall semester, first year Moorpark College student Matthew White circled the crowded, asphalt parking lots in attempt to find a parking space on the first day of the fall 2016 semester.

“Yesterday, I spent an entire hour driving around the parking lot just to find a parking spot,” said White.

White, an 18-year-old pre-medical major, is one of the dozens of students who share the common problem of the insufficient amount of parking spaces available during the first week of the school year.

With 13,948 students, according to the Admissions and Records office, beginning their fall classes this week, Associated Students’ Student Organizations Director Mersedeh Kolyaei knew that parking would be an issue that she would choose to avoid altogether.

“Parking was so terrible that I didn’t even try to bring my car,” said Kolyaei.

Brian Weiner, a 29-year-old network engineering major, says another solution to find a spot is figuring out the best time to arrive to campus in order to get to class on time.

“Parking is a pain,” said Weiner. “I found parking right away on the first day, you just got to know when to get here”.

However, for some students such as Robert Brown, a 19-year-old film, television and media major, the first few days of the new school year have been trouble-free.

“It’s actually been fine,” Brown said. “Moving from my summer schedule to my school schedule has been seamless and I hope it stays that way.”

While the majority of campus has voiced concerns over the lack of parking spaces, Brown said that he has found an alternative solution.

“I just went to the outskirts and found an open spot,” said Brown. “But, it’s not near my class.”

Collin Smith, an 18-year-old electrical engineering major, reminds us that arriving early to campus in order to find a parking spot and the locations of each of his classes makes the stresses of the new semester more bearable.

“I got here pretty early to find my class,” Smith said. “I just got one of the maps. It was easy. Everyone’s been pretty helpful.”

First-year student Tyler Luna, an 18-year-old computer science major, indicates that this first week hasn’t been an issue, primarily because not all of his classes have taken place just yet.

“Both my classes are early so the parking is not bad,” said Luna. “I have three classes Tuesdays and Thursdays, one class on Wednesday and one class on Monday. My other class won’t start until next week.”

Even though students are concerned both about finding a parking space within the masses of traffic and figuring out where each of their courses are, some look forward to the new semester’s experiences.

Chris Allison, a 22-year-old theatre arts major, looks forward to the Theatre Arts’ productions all pertaining to the 50th year anniversary of Moorpark College.

“[The Theatre Arts Department is] doing shows that take place when the school was first inducted,” said Allison. “We’re doing ‘Night of the Living Dead’ for our first production. It has lots of zombies and I think it’s going to be a big year for the school.”

While Allison looks forward to the theatre arts season, Spencer Flynn, an 18-year-old business administration major, anticipates getting into the college atmosphere.

“I’m not excited about the workload,” said Flynn. “But to get back into a school environment is cool.”