Ask anyone and they can tell you parking is a problem at OU. For students at the University of Akron, Kent State University and Miami University, parking on campus and in cities is less of a problem.

OU has 5,266 spaces for on-campus residents, faculty and commuters. First-year students are not allowed to have cars. However, OU gives out 30 to 40 parking permits to first-year students with special circumstances, such as military obligations and certain occupations, Police Chief Ted Jones said.

"I don't think that OU will impressionably increase overnight parking because of the number of private lots," Jones said.

Even within the city, parking in a convenient place can be an amenity.

The Athens Police Department said parking officers issue an average of 75 to 100 tickets daily after 10 a.m., with a monthly average of 2,500 to 3,000 tickets for each of the three officers.

According to the APD, not all the tickets are because of over-time parking. Some are issued to cars parked in the yellow zones because the driver could not find an open space.

Special events, such as Halloween and graduation, cause more parking problems and ultimately an increase in the number of ticketed cars.

Unlike OU, the University of Akron permits first-year students to have cars and park on campus.

Chris Smith, the school's Parking Services office supervisor, said Akron has 70 lots to accommodate about 21,250 students with cars.

The parking lots that are closer to campus are always full, whereas the lots that are not as close normally have empty spaces, she said. Even though these lots are farther away from campus, a shuttle bus is available to bus students to classes.

In the city of Akron, parking is not such a problem. The Akron Police Department said parking officers issue an average of 1,500 parking tickets a month.

Akron has enough parking, but much of it is not right in town, so walking does become an issue, according to the Akron Police Department.

Like Akron, Kent State allows first-year students to have cars. However, they must park at the football stadium, which is about a mile and a half from campus, said Randy Ristow, Parking Services manager. The school provides a shuttle which picks students up from the stadium and transports them to the campus.

Upperclassmen living on-campus are likely to get a parking space close to their residence halls. If the spaces are a distance away, these students can take advantage of the shuttle system, Ristow said.

Kent has about 11,000 spaces, but issues anywhere from 11,000 to 12,000 permits, he said.

The Kent Police Department said parking in the town is limited only on streets near the university. Parking is most limited from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.

In spite of the limited parking, Kent parking officers only issue 400 to 500 parking tickets monthly, according to the Kent Police Department.

To eliminate parking congestion, Miami University has a no-car policy for undergraduate students. For an undergraduate student to have a car, the student must meet special requirements such as military obligations, internships for academic credit, or if a student is married.

Even students who live off campus are not permitted to have a car. If a student off-campus qualifies to have a car, the student must register the car with the university.

Vanessa Cummings, assistant director of Public Safety in charge of parking at Miami, said the reason for an all-campus, no-parking policy is because Oxford is residential, and students do not need cars to get around.

The city and the university just does not have the resources for students to park, she said.

Cummings also said the university provides numerous shuttle services to get students around campus and even home if necessary.