Before the school year starts parking passes go up for sale, with seniors boasting the highest attendance getting access to them first, and then juniors gaining access. No sophomores or freshmen are eligible to buy parking passes. Many students woke up early one day this summer like senior Alyssa Lusk hoping to purchase a $50 parking pass to gain access to A-lot.

“I woke up early and went on my computer,” Lusk said. “I refreshed my tab until the parking passes became available for me to buy.”

After looking further into the situation on the website Ride-In, the company that students purchase their passes on, band lot and A-lot were both listed, allowing over 180 passes to be sold. A lot’s max capacity in the fall semester is only 77. Only seniors had access to buy passes thanks to the Bowie admin team finding Ride-In’s mistake quickly.

“The admin discovered the permits had been issued improperly,” campus safety monitor Andrew Padgett said. “Thank goodness it was during the middle of the summer and they were able to put a stop to it.”

109 students bought A lot passes but did not gain access due to them being oversold. After going back in the purchase logs, Bowie admin gave the first 80 students who purchased a pass access to A-lot. 

“We wanted the correct students to receive priority and looked in the logs to give them to the first 80 people,” STEM instructional coach Cindi Carroll said. “We still wanted to compensate the affected students and decided to give these students lot B spot without an extra charge since they were inconvenienced.” 

These students were also given another option of a full refund. Most students who were given the option chose spots in the garage for the discounted $15. The students who purchased a pass to A lot but were unable to use them were given priority if they choose to use it when the rest of A lot opens up after marching season.