People visiting campus or people on campus are not exempt from parking regulations. They must either park at a parking meter/pay by stall on campus or obtain a visitor permit and park in the proper lots.
Visitor Permits
We have discontinued the use of the physical visitor parking passes since they cannot be detected with the new enforcement equipment. All visitor passes are now virtual. Authorized ISU Departments requesting visitor passes may request a pass at the Departmental Visitors page.
Click here for detailed instructions on how to purchase a Visitor Permit
Visitor permits are $5/day and can be purchased online through the ISU Parking Portal. This is a virtual permit valid for 1, 3, 5 or 7 days depending on which permit your choose. These permits are only valid in General Staff (yellow sign) and Student lots (white sign). Student Residence halls and apartment parking lots are reserved 24 hours a day and will require a permit to park.
If your vehicle does not have a license plate, you MUST enter the VIN in the VIN section and in the plate section, enter VIN the last 4 numbers of your VIN (VIN1234) when adding your vehicle information.
General Staff and most Reserve parking lots open at 5:30pm Monday - Friday and weekends.
Visitor Permits are NOT VALID in Ames Intermodal Facility
Visitor Permits are NOT ALLOWED in student lots on game days except for 112 and 201/202.