This semester, Moorpark College is requiring all students, staff and visitors to obtain a virtual pass to park on campus. Parking permits were not mandated in recent years because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and their return marks an on-going transition back to campus life before the pandemic.

Students can purchase a parking pass on the Moorpark College Marketplace website in one of two variations: a semester parking permit or a daily parking permit. A regular student semester parking pass costs $58 and a semester motorcycle parking pass costs $40.

The single-day parking permits are available for both visitors and students. Individuals may purchase these passes online at PayMyCite.com or by activating a QR code to their smartphones. Daily permits cost $2.00 per day and are nonrefundable.

Marisol Jimenez, a first-year student at Moorpark College and a representative of Extended Opportunity Programs and Services voiced concern about the reinstated parking permits.

“[Students] obviously need to pay for [parking permits] every semester, every year and some people may not be able to,” Jimenez said. “It might make it a lot harder for somebody that’s in need.”

Jimenez recommends that full-time students who meet the program’s eligibility, apply and take advantage of the services offered through EOPS.

Additionally, students who qualify for the California College Promise Grant waiver can save money on the student semester parking permits. According to the Ventura County Community College District Police Department, students receiving the state promise grant can purchase the permits at a reduced price of $30.

Students can see if they are eligible for the CCPG waiver through the Ventura County Community College District’s CCPG webpage.

Faculty parking passes differ significantly from student passes in that full-time staff and faculty parking permits are free and valid for two years. Faculty passes are ordered through the MyVCCCD portal, and part-time staff can fill out a temporary parking permit request form available here.

Alette Laughton is the Associated Students of Moorpark College director of student services. Laughton expressed that the re-implementation of parking permits will benefit the Moorpark College community by improving campus safety and upkeep.

“The parking permits, the sales, the revenue from that goes into a district-wide parking fund, essentially,” Laughton said. “It goes into a big parking fund, and that is the fund that primarily supports the police on campus. Additional things [supported] would be parking structures and upkeep of the parking lots.”

Laughton advocated for the importance of using the revenue from parking passes to improve the Moorpark College campus. She emphasized the possibility that the revenue generated from the permits would be used to pay for license plate scanners. Laughton also highlighted how student voices were actively heard in the implementation of these permits.

“I think police presence on campus, especially during a time when students have specifically requested more police presence, is [crucial],” Laughton said. “It is important to make sure [law enforcement is] properly funded so that they can support students.”

Lieutenant Andy Huisenga, who has been with the VCCCD Police Department since 2008, expressed that virtual parking passes make things easier for visitors, students and staff parking on campus, while also helping to increase police presence.

“With the district once again requiring the purchase of daily or semester parking permits, we will need to hire cadets again so they can take on the responsibility of parking enforcement,” Huisenga said. “During the COVID-19 years we only employed one-to-two cadets per semester due to us not citing, and having fewer students and staff on campus.”

Huisenga explained that officers will enforce parking by using the license plate readers that are attached to their vehicles. These scanners will then allow cadets to cover the whole campus more efficiently, ensuring that parking permits are valid and providing the police presence increasingly demanded by students following concerns over sexual misconduct allegations on campus.

According to Laughton, after the original plan to re-implement parking permits in the Summer 2022 semester was denied, the proposals were revised with adjustments to the plan’s budget allocation. The revised proposals were approved in September 2022 and their implementation began in the Spring 2023 semester.

Laughton emphasized that the current plan in place for parking permits intends to recycle funds to create a safer community for Moorpark College students, staff and visitors.