Requests for preferred parking will sort into four groups:

• Commuter and resident students with 90 or more cumulative hours
• Commuter and resident students with 60 or more cumulative hours
• Commuter students with 59 or fewer cumulative hours
• Resident students with 30 or more cumulative hours

Currently, first-year students are not eligible for preferred parking.

Beth Glaus, Southeast manager of parking and transit, says the decal distribution system to be used this year is the result of a modified Student Government resolution.

That is the beauty of working with such a dedicated group of students," she said. "We have been able to come to this joint resolution."

Ross McFerron, former Student Government president during whose tenure the resolution was approved, said, "I think it is definitely an improvement over last year and years past. It shows a commitment to the upperclassmen who have come through the system and have earned the right to get better parking.

"As long as students stay in school, this system gives them something to look forward to," McFerron said. "It rewards them."

Registration for 2003-2004 parking permits will open at 8 a.m. July 10. At that time, students may apply and pay for permits online or they may complete a standard paper application. Students who register using Southeast Online Services (S.O.S.) should click on the "Parking Permit Registration" option on the S.O.S. page located at http://www.semo.edu/webapps/.

Students should apply using only one method. Regardless of which method a student chooses when applying, all students who pay their account in full or who make the first payment toward their installment payment plan for the fall 2003 semester, plus the associated parking fee, by 4 p.m. July 25 will then be placed in the lottery and sorted according to student seniority. Payment may be made by mail; online access, using a checking account through a secured system via Southeast Online Services; or in person at the Cashier's Office.

As in past years, paper applications will be mailed to students in the University's billing to students on July 8. Completed paper applications with payment will be accepted by mail or in person at the Cashier's Office in Academic Hall, beginning at 8 a.m. July 10.

Parking fees for the 2003-2004 year are $135 for preferred decals; $85 for perimeter decals; and $45 for evening only decals, which are valid after 1:30 p.m.

Registration will close at 4 p.m. July 25, and no additional preferred applications will be accepted until after the lottery is conducted. The lottery will be conducted July 30, during which the preferred decals will be assigned as follows:

Preferred Resident

• 40 percent will be distributed to resident students with 90 or more hours.
• 35 percent will go to resident students with 60 or more hours.
• 25 percent will go to resident students with 30 or more cumulative hours.

Preferred Commuter

• 40 percent will be distributed to commuter students with 90 or more hours.
• 35 percent will go to commuter students with 60 or more hours.
• 25 percent will be distributed to commuter students with 59 or fewer hours.

Because distribution of the preferred decals will be based on a lottery, the time at which a student applies is irrelevant as long as they apply before the system closes July 25, Glaus said.

Students applying for preferred permits who are not drawn in the lottery will be placed on a waiting list if they choose to do so. This choice is made by accepting a perimeter parking permit if a preferred permit is not available. Students will be placed on the waiting list for their first choice lot by cumulative hours. While on the waiting list, these students will receive a perimeter decal and become eligible for preferred parking from the waiting list as space becomes available. Students applying for preferred permits who are not drawn in the lottery and who declined a perimeter parking permit will not be placed on a waiting list.

Students can expect to receive their decals by Aug. 8.