Parking has been an issue among students at Cerritos College for a long time.

Usually it is about a manner of finding the spot closest to one’s class.

During the first couple weeks of school, it is a manner of finding a spot at all. For the sake of education, something must be done to fix this problem.

Those first couple of weeks are the most important in a way. If students don’t get to class, teachers will drop them.

Most students get to school drive around and end up being late to class. This is disruptive to the learning environment.

A student can drive around both parking lots for close to an hour to find an available spot during the first few weeks of a new semester.

The said student isn’t complaining about parking all the way next to the strawberry fields because those spaces are taken as well.

A solution must take place to take care of the temporary parking problem in the first couple weeks of school.

Many staff parking spots are available; maybe it’s time to evaluate how many of those spots are being used at any given time by staff.

No one wants to take spots away from teachers. If teachers can’t park, the classes won’t begin.

However, while every single student space is filled and there are plenty of staff spots opened, some should be given to students.

The aisle reserved for student government isn’t being used nearly to its full capacity in the beginning of the semester.

And if it’s too much of an issue to give some staff parking spots to students, there are other places that can be negotiable.

The people at Home Depot have not liked it when students would use their parking lot. It could be time to make a deal with these people to allow students to parking there for the first couple weeks.

There are also on-campus parking spots that have meters and time limits. What if student were able to use those spaces without paying or having any time limits.

Something needs to be done about the parking situation at the beginning of school. New parking lots aren’t necessarily the answer because the back rows of the parking lots do open up after a couple weeks into the semester.

But something less permanent could be available. Not being able to find a parking spot isn’t acceptable. Students need to come to class.