Junior Michael Lambert likens trying to find an open spot in the Phillips lot to parking at the Mall of America on Christmas Eve — nearly impossible.

Many students share Lambert’s sentiments about the difficulty of parking on campus, student senator Kevin Funk said.

During its Monday meeting, Student Senate unanimously passed a bill aimed at alleviating the problem.

Although Senate doesn’t have any direct control over student parking, the bill that passed shows the body’s support of a tiered parking system on lower campus.

The system would resemble that of upper campus in which students who park farther away pay less for their spaces, Funk said.

The tiered parking system would try to alleviate this discrepancy by charging students more to park in the Phillips lot.

“(Under the system), if you want to park close, you’ll pay more,” Funk said.

Lambert, who did not attend Monday’s meeting, said he thinks a tiered parking system could work to an extent.

One of Senate’s major concerns in finalizing the bill was to not change the flow of revenue for the parking office, Funk said. The hope was to compensate for the revenue lost by the less expensive permits by raising the cost of Phillips permits, but not by much. One figure suggested was a yearly increase of $10 for permits in Phillips lot.

Another potential problem with reducing parking prices is it may discourage students from taking the bus, Funk said. To avoid this, he said, Senate could recommend not lowering the price of Haas and Water Street permits too much.

University Senate makes the final decision on any parking changes.

If University Senate implements a tiered parking system on lower campus, Lambert said he thinks students would approve.

Lambert said: “Anything that will help parking on campus any student would have a positive reaction to.”