Have you ever parked your car and come back to a bright ticket sticking out from under your windshield wiper? Do you feel a sense of dread when you take it off of the windshield and inevitably have to pay a steep price for the offense?
Many residents of University Heights, including JCU students and faculty, have fallen victim to this situation when they park in an area they believe is safe. After dealing with illegal parking in the city, the University Heights City Council decided to increase parking fines from $25 to $75.
“[City Council] has voiced a sense of frustration over the continued illegal parking around the city, especially around the university,” University Heights Mayor Michael Dylan Brennan said. According to Brennan, the number of parking tickets issued went up 70% following the closing of the Belvoir Boulevard lot to accommodate the AWE Center construction.
Yet the number of parking violations near John Carroll’s campus after the fine increase remains high. According to UHPD parking data prepared on Oct. 9, 76 tickets were issued in “JCU area parking” in August and 120 tickets were issued in September in the same area. Across the city, a total of 517 tickets have been issued over those two months. This data shows that for 2025 so far, $47,630 was made in revenue from parking tickets, roughly a 26% increase from the previous year’s revenue of $34,800.
The revenue generated from these tickets goes into the city’s “general fund,” making it difficult to track where the money is spent. Additionally, the number of parking complaints in the JCU area has decreased significantly since 2024, going from 209 complaints to 60 throughout the first nine months of 2025. However, total tickets issued from January to September near JCU have nearly doubled from 642 in 2024 to 1,063 in 2025 so far.
While the high amount of tickets issued may seem shocking, it is a lesser punishment than UH City Council originally planned. “[They] actually considered impounding a car on its third parking ticket in a year, even if the other two tickets had been paid,” Brennan said. Members of city council declined to comment for this story.
Students who park at their university-owned off-campus housing also suffer the consequences of the parking fine increase. One student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told The Carroll News they were ticketed by UHPD simply for parking in their yard, without blocking the curb or sidewalk, when the driveway was full from their other roommates’ cars. They said, “There was no form of warning… no one told me on both fronts. [John Carroll] should have laid out the rules or sent an email to all of those people living off campus.” “A $75 ticket is a blunder,” the student explained.
No relief in JCU parking issues
Although JCU could be a safe haven for student parking, the campus has struggles of its own. The amount of parking on and off campus totals 694 spots for both undergraduate and graduate students, according to JCU Parking. This total does not include the amount of spaces available for commuters and evening graduate student parking because these permits have “no limit.”
JCU Parking gave out enough permits to fill 1,255 of these spots, including commuters and evening graduate students, making a total revenue of $343,367.50, according to JCU parking data and JCU’s Chief Financial Officer Robert Connors.
In a statement provided to The Carroll News, JCU parking states that the total permits issued are 569 for commuters and 99 for evening graduate students. The simultaneous existence of a limited number of parking spots and the claim that there is “no limiter” for permits raises logistical questions, especially as the commuter lot is unavailable due to the construction of Gateway North. With construction now complete on the Athletic, Wellness & Event Center only 60 parking spots have been added, all of which are devoted to faculty and staff.
Similarly to UH, the revenue JCU earns from parking passes and tickets goes into an “other revenue” account, which makes tracking expenses paid with this revenue difficult. Along with the almost $350,000 in parking permit revenue, JCU made $63,170 from parking fines during the 2024-2025 school year, according to Connors.
Even with the prospect of earning more revenue by increasing permits given to students, there is not enough parking available on or off campus to warrant a large change. However, Connors said that this is a “good problem to have” because less availability for parking means that more students are coming to JCU. Although this is positive for the university, students are stuck with the limited parking campus provides and will have to be aware of where they choose to park in the surrounding community.
