Piedmont University will be implementing a new parking pass rule this upcoming school year.
Currently, Piedmont only allows students who live in New Bedford, Plymouth, Mystic and the Village to drive on campus and have a commuter parking pass. Commuter students also have commuter parking passes and are allowed to drive on campus.
Everyone else who lives in center point which includes Johnson, Swanson, Wallace, Mayflower, Purcell and Ipswich are required to walk and cannot drive to class.
Starting fall of 2025, Piedmont and Campus Police have decided to give all students except for commuter students and Village residents residential parking passes.
However, according to Chief Andrews “if a student wants to purchase a commuter pass there’ll be a fee of $100 dollars” in order to be able to drive to classes. Students who want to drive can purchase a pass, but commuters and village residents do not have to pay the fee.
When a student purchases a commuter parking pass the proceeds will go towards fixing the potholes around campus along with restriping the parking lots.
A small amount of the proceeds will go towards purchasing donuts for Campus Police because “everybody knows how much police officers love their donuts, especially me,” said Chief Andrews.
“Campus Police and Piedmont just want to make sure everybody arrives on campus safely and I feel like the best way to do that is to stop everybody from driving to class,” said Chief Andrews.
This new rule will start in the upcoming fall semester.
