Rowan University sophomores who live on-campus will not be able to bring their cars effective at the start of the 2017-18 academic year. This news came in a recent Rowan Announcer sent to the student body on March 20.

Presently, only freshman students are barred from having their cars on campus. Exceptions to the rule are granted if a student has a medical condition or an off-campus job. Sophomores will now be subjected to the same policies.

“We felt this big change was needed,” said university spokesman Joe Cardona. “We’ve been nibbling around the edges for a while. We’re a growing school and we need to make more room.”

Last semester, Rowan added a 220-space parking lot on Ellis Street, and implemented a policy which allowed commuters to park in residential lots and vice versa. Additionally, the Mick Drive parking garage was opened in January. At this time, parking passes for the garage are available only through Nexus. Cardona said that the university has not decided if they will sell spots for the garage in partnership with Nexus, or allow the garage to sell parking passes independently in the fall.

Despite these measures, the university felt only allowing juniors and seniors to have cars will help free up additional spaces and lessen Rowan’s parking issues in the long-term, according to Cardona.

Cardona said that school officials are aware the parking changes will cause an adjustment period. Many sophomore students are housed in Edgewood Park Apartments or Rowan Boulevard Apartments and frequently need access to ShopRite for groceries. Rowan shuttle services offers a trip from the Student Center to ShopRite on Fridays, which will continue in the fall. Given these factors, university officials will continue to monitor how the policy change impacts sophomore students in apartment-style housing, Cardona said.

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