Visitor Parking

Visitors are persons other than current students, staff and faculty who are visiting the campus for personal or business reasons. Anyone operating a vehicle registered to a current KU student or employee is not eligible for visitor status and cannot park in spaces designated by signs as “Visitor Parking” or “Guest Only."

Campus parking is enforced through license plate recognition. Tickets are issued to the registered vehicle owner, not the driver of the vehicle.

Jayhawk Welcome Center

The Jayhawk Welcome Center houses the Admissions Office and is located at 1266 Oread Ave. Paid hourly parking is available across the street in the Mississippi Street Garage.

Parking on Campus

We highly encourage visitors to use hourly parking in one of the three campus parking garages: Mississippi Street, Allen Fieldhouse and Central District. Visitor permits are available for a few parking lots where a parking garage is not within a reasonable distance of your campus destination.

The Mississippi Street, Allen Fieldhouse and Central District parking garages typically have more open spaces available than meters in surface lots, particularly Monday-Friday during the day. Hourly garage parking is $1.75 for the first hour (or any portion of the hour) and $1.50 for all subsequent hours.

There are traditional parking meters located in several lots on campus. Any vehicle parking at a meter must pay the meter, with the exception of vehicles displaying valid accessible license plates or placards.

• Long-term meters have 1-hour or 2-hour limits and cost $1.50 per hour. You will find long-term meters located in lots: 1 and 210.
• Short-term meters (40-minutes or 20 minutes) are $.50 for 20 minutes. There are short-term meters located in lots 70, and Green Hall circle drive and JRP circle drive.

If you encounter a meter that is jammed or not registering coins properly, please call 785-864-7289 or e-mail kupark@ku.edu to report the meter number (painted on the meter) and lot location.

You can pay using the ParkMobile app to pay for parking at meters in lot 1.  These meters are labeled with a green sticker that displays instructions for how to pay using Parkmobile.  

Guests of Departments

KU departments can arrange reserved parking or purchase permits for visitors and events. If you are visiting a department and/or attending a conference or other event, ask your departmental contact about parking arrangements.

Orientation Parking

You should receive parking information with your Orientation packet. Prospective students and parents visiting campus for Orientation should park in the Mississippi Street parking garage located just north of the Kansas Memorial Union.

High School Junior Days and Senior Days

Students and parents visiting campus for high school Junior and Senior Days should park in the Mississippi Street parking garage located just north of the Kansas Memorial Union. You should receive parking information from the Admissions Office prior to the event.