Not really. Let's imagine students live off campus and commute in each day. If they have lectures at the start of the day, then you'll get a space. But if you have one lecture at 3pm on a given day and don't elect to spend the entire day on campus then you're likely unable to get a parking space.

First come, first served works fine if you all start at the same time but I found you're often at the mercy of timetabling.

Imagine a doctor working at two hospitals who has to move his car from one location to the other mid-day between surgeries. Is it more fair for him to have a worse parking spot and take longer to get to the operating room because he didn't park there earlier? Or should spots be given based on need?

No, it leads to people with 10AM classes arriving before 9AM for the free parking, which just worsens the problem.

It doesn’t seem fair to me, it seems like it favors people who have early classes or live on early schedules.

It is 'fair' in some senses and not others... it means if you are a student with later classes, you are less likely to get parking.

It also means you can't plan effectively. If half the time, you show up to class and can't park anywhere, how can you make it to class on time consistently?

If your answer is "well, maybe you should take public transportation instead of driving", how is that any better for students than charging for parking?

If you charge for parking, you are at least giving students a choice and the ability to make an informed decision: "is it better to drive and pay $x to park, or save money and take public transportation?"

If you have free parking that is often full, your choice is "take public transportation or have a x% chance of not being able to park and missing class"

Wouldnt that unfairly weight parking spots to those with early classes? Not all classes have a variety of times available