When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March of 2020, colleges and universities throughout the country sent their students home and transitioned to online learning. This impacted every facet of university operations, especially parking. Not only did university parking departments have to deal with the decision of how or whether to refund parking fees for the remainder of the year, but they also had to deal with the logistics of managing parking permits. Many faced challenges getting permits back from students, issues with them being replicated or faked, and more.

Of course, the COVID era isn’t the first-time colleges and universities have faced issues with paper parking permits. For years students have looked for ways to cheat the system, often with creative results. Institutions have tried their best to stay ahead of such issues, adding things like bar codes to the permits to make enforcement easier and limit the opportunities to replicate them. However, as technology has advanced so too has the ability to forge printed items like parking permits. This can result in significant losses for the parking department.

In today’s parking landscape, many colleges and universities are looking to transition to virtual parking permits on their campuses. Virtual parking permits are a great solution to not only reduce “cheating” but also significantly reduce costs associated with printing, mailing, and more. Check out ParkEngage Permit Parking. Faculty and staff can purchase permits online, register their vehicles, and easily manage their payments and renewals. Further, university parking staff can easily enforce parking on foot or in vehicle with our LPR enabled solution, while eliminating the need to issue hangtags, decals, or permit stickers. Check out the future of permit parking now!