USC raises student parking fees

University of South Carolina students will pay higher parking fees when they return to Columbia this fall.

Students will pay $80 more – up to $800 total – for permits to park in the school’s garages over the next year. The price to park in surface lots on the school’s downtown campus will increase by $10 to $110 a year.

USC’s trustees Friday approved the hikes along with the school’s 2016-17 budget, including a 3.25 percent tuition increase. The parking fee increases did not come up during discussions of the budget during the hours-long meeting.

USC last month announced it would raise parking fees for faculty and staff to pay for $12.5 million in campus-wide parking improvements. But a USC spokesman said then a fee hike for students had not yet been approved by school leaders.

The fees will pay to install lighting, more cameras and emergency call boxes; repaint lines; repave asphalt; fill potholes; and make other structural fixes at the school’s surface lots and parking garages.

This story was originally published June 25, 2016 at 10:10 AM with the headline "USC raises student parking fees."