The university’s board of trustees — FAU’s 13 highest ranking officials — voted to approve a new $15.6 million parking garage, which will stand four stories tall and include 943 spaces for students, faculty and staff. If the parking garage plans are approved by the Florida Board of Governors at their Nov. 7 meeting, construction will begin January 2013 and be complete by next September.

There are 24,029 students taking classes on the Boca campus this semester, approximately 79 percent of FAU’s enrollment, according to the university’s office of Institutional Effectiveness and Analysis.

The new parking garage will bring the total amount of parking spaces on campus to 11,403, according to the proposal approved today.

“I think it’s a great asset for the campus,” SG President Robert Huffman said. “Students are going to be as excited for this as they were about the [FAU football] stadium.”

If approved, the parking garage will be built next to the stadium.

“The selected site is just to the west of the stadium, where Lot 11 currently exists,” FAU police Chief Charles Lowe told the UP in September.

And although FAU’s leadership is thrilled about the new garage, some students are not.

“I think we’re very excited,” University President Mary Jane Saunders said. “The one thing that gets applause when you talk to any group is we’re building another parking garage.”

“This school is retarded,” Joshua Olmann, a senior biology major, said. “Why would you build all these big buildings and have no parking spots? C’mon, somebody.”