MISSION VIEJO : College Parking Bedevils Students

Getting a parking spot at Saddleback College this semester, say the students who face that task every morning, can be similar to swimming around in a tank filled with hungry sharks.

“They all gang up on the same spot and wait,” said Michelle Watts, who was forced to park in the football field parking lot and hike from there to class, arriving 25 minutes late.

“When you finally find a space, other people steal it from you,” added Susan Sorian, another frustrated parker.

Other students, also infuriated by the parking shortage, said they finally gave up on the student parking lot and flocked to residential streets in search of spaces on the hectic first day of school.

The parking crunch has become a bothersome issue for many of Saddleback’s students, and one explanation for it, officials say, could be this year’s record enrollment at the college. As of the first day of classes, enrollment at both Saddleback and Irvine Valley colleges had jumped 7% over last fall--from 24,010 to 25,691 students, said Matthew Breindel, a researcher at the district headquarters.

And even though not all of those students park at once, by the third day of classes this year, total enrollment at Saddleback was up to about 20,619. By the end of registration, administrators expect that figure to exceed 23,000, the highest in college history.

That’s good news for the college but bad news for drivers, who have been left scrambling for places to leave their cars.

“I had to run to my class from Hillcrest,” said Lisa Toole, who said she could not find a parking place at 8:25 a.m. “I paid $20 for a parking permit. I was pretty ticked off.”

Some students have resorted to parking in the red zones, 15-minute loading zones and staff parking lots, risking a $20 ticket.

The problem shows few signs of abating, but college officials suggest that students could make life easier on themselves if they just leave a little extra time.