USC Parking

A visitor's parking permit is available from USC Parking for $8 per day. This will allow you to park in most surface lots on campus, including the C1 Faculty and Staff lot at 1400 Pendleton Street, next to the back garden of the South Caroliniana Library, except in parking spaces marked as reserved.

Without a visitor's parking permit, the C1 Faculty and Staff lot is restricted to University of South Carolina faculty and staff with a C, H or RT permit until 3 p.m. on weekdays. But all faculty and staff permit holders can park there after 3 p.m. And all faculty, staff, and student permit holders can park there on Saturdays.

University parking is also available to visitors in the Pendleton Street Garage. The visitors' entrance to the garage is on the west side of the 1000 block of Pickens Street, at the northeast corner of the garage. Visitors' parking is at five-hour meters on levels 1a, 1b, and 2a for 25 cents per half-hour. Parking meter cards valid for one full day at any USC meter are available for $5 at the Parking and Transportation Services office on the ground level at the southeast corner of the Pendleton Street Garage. Payment at USC meters is not monitored on Saturday. Note, meters on the street are not University meters, but are maintained by the City of Columbia.

For more information on University parking, visit Parking and Transportation Services.

City of Columbia parking
Parking monitored by the City of Columbia is available on surrounding streets at two-hour green meters and five-hour blue meters for 25 cents per 20 minutes, or with the Passport Parking app using your smart phone as explained here. Time may not be added to the meters beyond their maximum. Two-hour green meters are on Marion, on Senate between Sumter and Marion, and on the north side of College. Five-hour blue meters are on the south side of College, on Sumter between Greene and Pendleton, on Pendleton between Sumter and Bull, and on Senate between Marion and Bull. The city offers an interactive map that shows green and blue lines for the different types of meters. To center the map on South Caroliniana Library, search for 910 Sumter St.

Privately-maintained public parking
Vista Parking maintains a parking lot on the block behind South Caroliniana Library at 1311 Pendleton Street at the corner with Sumter Street with both monthly and hourly rates using your smart phone.

Preferred Parking maintains parking lots at 1212 Pendleton Street and 1320 Senate Street with both monthly and hourly rates using your smart phone.

Parking for people who have a disability
Persons with valid handicapped plates or placards may park in any street metered spaces maintained by the City of Columbia without feeding the meter and without time restrictions.

To park in accessible spaces marked as USC permit-only parking lots or garages, an accessible parking permit issued by the University of South Carolina is required. State-issued placards or plates alone are not valid to park in these spaces. The University's accessible parking permits are available for purchase by students, faculty, and staff members from Parking and Transportation Services. Note, there are no visitor versions of USC accessible parking permits available

The visitor parking spaces in the Pendleton Street Garage include accessible parking spaces that may be used by those with state-issued placards or plates. These spaces are not marked as USC-permit only. However, please note there is an approximately 0.4 mile distance between the garage and South Caroliniana Library building.

The C1 Faculty and Staff lot at 1400 Pendleton Street has accessible spaces next to the back garden of the South Caroliniana Library that may be used with accessible parking permits issued to students, faculty, and staff by Parking and Transportation Services. As mentioned above, an $8 per day visitor's parking permit will allow you to park in most surface lots on campus in most spaces, except those marked as reserved or as accessible parking requiring a USC-issued permit. This includes parking the C1 Faculty and Staff lot at 1400 Pendleton Street, next to the back garden of the South Caroliniana Library.