I graduated last year, so may be out of date, but my experience was:
- it was tricky to park anywhere unless you were on campus early (<0900)
- everywhere was pay and display or pay on exit
- there was a local resident permit scheme around the back of tescos
- tecsos started putting up cameras limiting you to a couple of hours parking
Overnight parking, I would suggest, is nearly impossible without paying a small fortune (although I don't know how tightly enforced the last two points are).
With the pay and display option on campus, it was worth not buying a ticket and taking the fine when they caught you - again this may have changed.