Updated as of Jan. 3 at 3:01 p.m. to include comment from Chris Guider and photos of the new Gateway parking lot. 

Updated as of Jan. 2 at 6:06 p.m. to include comment from Dmitri Putman.

As Winter Term approaches on Jan. 5, the new Gateway parking lot located at the Francis Center will be open for freshmen students starting Jan. 3. 

The project was originally announced in November 2023 and was supposed to open in fall 2024. The new parking lot’s opening was continuously delayed with the most recent announcement of a delay occurring in August 2025.  

According to an email sent from Chief of Elon Campus Safety and Police Joe LeMire to undergraduate and graduate students on Jan. 2, students with a parking permit marked “FY” will be parking in Gateway and the eastern lot of the Danieley parking lot.

Map of the distance between the center of Elon University's campus and the Francis Center. The walk for students from the central part of campus to the new parking lot near Francis Center will be approximately 20 minutes.

Elon freshman Dmitri Putman said he was surprised about how far away parking is for freshmen. 

“I remember during the first few weeks when me and my friends when we would always go out, and I noticed that it was quite a hike to get to the cars for first years,” Putman said. 

Anjolina Fantaroni | Elon News Network
The new Gateway parking lot opened after originally being announced in November 2023

Fellow Elon freshman Chris Guider said he drives back home to Holly Springs, North Carolina about every other week, which is over an hour drive from Elon’s campus. He said the new parking locations for freshmen makes it difficult for freshmen to get off campus. 

I'm not a big fan of it to say the least,” Guider said. “I live in North Carolina. I tend to go home every other week or so. Definitely makes that a little bit harder. I also, some responsibilities off campus makes it harder for those who have those responsibilities to get to them.”

Guider, who has a car on campus, said he would park in the Ellington and South Campus Gym lot during the fall semester because it was the closest lot to his dorm. With the opening of the new parking lot, Guider and all cars with an “FY“ permit will not be allowed to park in lots open to all other permits. 

The parking permit map for Elon University’s 2025-26 academic year shows that freshmen can only park in two designated lots. Photo courtesy of Elon Campus Safety and Police.

These lots include Ellington and South Campus Gym, Arts West lot, Colonnades lot, Hunt B lot, Francis Center lot, Ingold lot, Innovation Quad lot, parts of Danieley lot and Historic lot.

Guider said he hopes Elon will find ways to make traveling to the new parking locations easier for freshmen such as adding more transportation times for the Elon Express. 

“More transportation times are probably going to be the biggest thing,” Guider said. “Step back, reevaluate when our students going out to that lot, how many students are going out to that lot, and then trying to make a plan of attack from there.”

Currently the Haggard Avenue line of the Elon Express makes stops at the freshman parking lots.

In a previous statement to Elon News Network, LeMire wrote the delays were due to weather. 

LeMire did not respond to Elon News Network’s immediate request for comment.