Parking ticket fines at Chico State University soon could double or triple, making it much less attractive to risk parking illegally when late for class.

The university's proposal follows a similar action by the city of Chico. The City Council last week voted to double parking fines, which could take effect in the next 60 days.

Chico State's proposed hike is still being studied, said George Wellman, associate vice president for financial services. The fines haven't been raised in 10 years, he said.

"We're looking at it," Wellman said. "We haven't done anything formal yet."

One problem is that students risk parking in spots reserved for those with permits because the fines don't make much of a dent in the wallet. For instance, the current fine for parking with no visible decal is $15, while the parking decals cost $72 per semester, he said.

"It's an ongoing issue. Parking is just so lean," he said. "There has to be some deterrence."

Frankie Hockstaff, parking supervisor with the Chico State Police Department, agreed.

"The fines don't seem to serve as much of a deterrent to illegal parking," she said. "People can get a ticket four times in a semester and still pay less than a decal."

The most common offense is parking without a decal or permit in a university lot, she said. But officers occasionally will cite people parking on streets running through the university like Warner and Legion.

Another issue is that it costs the university more to pay for student bus service than it receives from parking fines, Wellman said. The tickets generate about $96,000 in revenue. But over the last 10 years, the cost of providing free bus service for students on Chico Area Transit System and Butte County buses has gone from $63,000 to $110,000, which leaves the school with a large deficit.

"Our cost has outstripped the revenue we get from it," he said. "We're just barely making it by. We're just on the razor's edge."

To cover the gap, the university has been using money from parking decal sales.

"It should be self-supporting," he said. "We should have looked at this five years ago. It's kind of gotten to critical mass with us at this point."

The increased fines could raise $49,000 a year, enough to make the program self-sufficient, he said.

About 10,000 tickets are issued at the college each year, Wellman said.

If approved by Chico State President Paul Zingg and his executive officers, the new fines likely will take effect in July, before the fall semester starts. Fall is when the effect really will be felt.

"During the summer it's not a problem around here. The students are all gone," Wellman said.

In calculating the proposed fines, financial services officials looked at other university campuses similar to Chico State, he said. Many had fines higher than Chico State's. For instance, California Polytechnic Institute and Sonoma State University each charge $25 for parking without a permit, while Humboldt State University charges $20, he said.