With the new academic year beginning, UT's freshmen are presumably among the most stressed out people on campus while adjusting to the initial culture change of being at a major university.
But on Wednesday, it was a group of commuting sophomores who received a rude awakening upon arrival at UT's campus.
"I ended up parking in a 15 minute zone behind the daycare for two and a half hours," said Dalton Parker, sophomore in logistics and first year commuter.
Parker, who did opt to purchase a $182 commuter parking pass, allowed for 45 minutes to commute from his townhouse complex near the UT Medical Center to his 10:10 class on campus.
"I got there right at 10:10," Parker said. "So I guess I wasn't late, but I definitely expected to be early."
Parker was not the only first-time commuter to experience problems on Wednesday.
Fellow sophomore Mark Coffield, business logistics major, said his apartment complex offers an hourly shuttle, but also said that its departure and arrival times coincide poorly with the beginning and ending times of classes.
"I don't have a parking pass," Coffield said. "So I just kind of winged it and ended up parking at Papa John's and walking a mile and a half to the Hill for class...it took about 20 minutes." Coffield said he plans to look for parking spots on the street or perhaps take the shuttle in the future.
Despite the problems experienced by Parker and Coffield, another first time commuter, sophomore in chemistry Max Bradley, said his parking experience was easier than expected.
"We left (at) about 9:20 for our 10:10 class and we parked in the Neyland garage at 9:34," Bradley said. "It didn't take us more than maybe five minutes to park once we got on campus."
Although the widespread construction on campus has altered some parking arrangements, UT's Parking and Transit Services website lists three locations where a total of 342 commuter spaces have been added.
The site says 150 spots have been acquired at the Church Street United Methodist Church under the designation "C 26." Another 140 spaces have been added to the "C 18" Poplar street lot, with 52 more being available at the "C 9" lot located at Laurel Avenue and 16th street.
The website also issues the following advice to commuters: "Parking garages such as G10 and 11th Street fill early," the site says. "So try other commuter surface lots such as C1 on Todd Helton Dr, C9 on Laurel Ave, C15 off Neyland Dr or SC40 at the Kingston Pike Bldg."
Parking citations can be both paid and appealed online.