Scrapping the free carpool parking area at the University of Wollongong could end up costing law student Gabriella Del Castillo up to $1000 a year.
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The first-year student has been carpooling from the St George with several friends, who all make their way to someone's house and get picked up from there.
The advantage to that approach was that they could take advantage of the free carpool parking area.
But as of June 22, UOW will scrap that parking section due to what it said was a decreased demand for carpooling spaces.
"Parking at the university's campuses is in high demand and carpooling demand has decreased," a UOW spokesperson said.
"In the future the carpooling car park will be available to everyone and will align with other campus permit and timed parking spaces. These changes won't be introduced until after the upcoming exam period."
Ms Del Castillo has started a change.org petition calling on UOW to reverse their decision to remove the free carpool parking - in three days it has collected more than 250 signatures.
She said her family had been reluctant about her travelling between Sydney and Wollongong several days a week but the fact she could drive there and not have to pay for parking made a difference.
"My friends and I - there are five of us doing law classes or other degrees - and we go to uni three days a week," Ms Del Castillo said.
"We share the driving duties and we all carpool every week."
She said the parking costs of $7 a day might not seem like much but she estimated it could end up being up to $1000 a year.
"It builds up after a while, and obviously you're already spending quite a bit on petrol with the fuel prices that are always going up."
Ms Del Castillo said catching public transport would be difficult - with an 8.30am class, it would mean leaving home at 5am.
"I have friends who live so far from the nearest train station; even if they do get the train, it would take them two hours to get to uni instead of a 50-minute drive," she said.
The UOW spokesperson said the removal of the free carpooling spaces was part of a broader package of parking changes designed to "streamline and simplify parking and payment processes".
"The changes include removal of boom gates, upgrading ticket machines, simplifying the permits system, and transitioning all ticketed car parks to the CellOPark payment app," they said.
The spokesperson said the CellOPark app meant students were only charged for the time they parked, rather than full or half day rates.
They said the removal of free carpool parking was not out of step with the university's push for students to use sustainable transport options.
"The university's main focus is on reducing the number of students and staff who drive to the university by encouraging the use of public and active transport (walking and cycling)," they said.
"Two free bus routes connect the campuses with North Wollongong Station the city, the beach and Fairy Meadow.
"The free North Gong Shuttle is fully paid for by UOW, and the university contributes to the cost of the free Gong Shuttle. Cyclists can utilise bike racks and bike maintenance and repair stations across the university's campuses."