Second-year English student Scout Knight is one of many students who bring their car to campus during the school year.

However, Knight said she has not been able to secure a parking permit for the past two years and pays parking fees out of pocket multiple days a week.

“It’s outrageous how expensive it is to park, considering it’s part of the university, especially for students who pay to go here,” Knight said.

Knight, along with other students with cars, said she has faced parking inconveniences in recent years.

Daily visitor parking ranges from $5 for one hour to $17 for all-day, according to UCLA Transportation’s website. Student permits range from $100.45 for four-person carpool cars per quarter to $324.03 for commuters per quarter. Semester-based student permits cost $486.05 per semester.

Faculty permits range from $108.01 per month for yellow permits, which are permits for staff who are assigned to a specific parking area, to $197.12 per month for X permits, which allow staff to park across multiple lots.

UCLA also significantly limited student daily parking permits and on some days stopped offering them at all starting Jan. 1, sparking concern among commuter students.

[Related: Daily student parking permits to be ‘significantly limited’ beginning January 2026]

The university does not plan to specifically expand parking or reduce prices but continues to evaluate options to balance affordability and access, a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“The university does not receive state funding for parking infrastructure, so permit revenue supports expenses such as facility upkeep, staffing, lighting, security, and long‑term capital improvements,” the spokesperson added.

Abigail Higgins, a first-year mathematics student from the Bay Area, said she keeps her car in Los Angeles because she uses it to drive home at the end of the quarter and to travel on the weekends. She added that she uses her car for off-campus transportation to doctors’ appointments.

Higgins, who was unable to secure a parking permit this year, said she parks in a parking structure a few miles away from campus and needs to take a bus or an Uber to access it. The structure closes at 9 p.m., which Higgins said limits the hours she can use her car.

“It is really expensive, and then if you park near the apartments, you get ticketed,” said Higgins, who pays $180 every month for her spot in an off-campus structure.

Darling Sianez, a business and operations analyst at UCLA, said she has a yellow parking permit and pays about $100 a month for the pass.

“(Parking) is really, really expensive,” Sianez said. “We don’t get discounts.”

Sianez said during her first eight years of parking on campus, she was assigned to Parking Lot 3 by Melnitz Hall, which was farther from her office in Haines Hall. She added that she only recently obtained a parking permit for Parking Lot 5, which is closer to her office.

Joseph Castillo, a second-year physiological science student who lives on campus, said he has experienced issues when bringing his car for the weekend.

Castillo said he parked in parking structure DD by Tom Bradley International Hall and paid for two days of parking, which he thought would be 48 hours. However, he was issued an $87 parking ticket after returning to his car because he had only been granted 36 hours of parking.

Higgins said she plans to apply for a UCLA parking permit next academic year to try to get a more accessible spot, though it is competitive.

“There should be more parking available,” Higgins said. “I know it is LA, and it is really hard everywhere here to get parking, but just making it more accessible.”