WWYD-Dorm Damage Charges

[Westcoastwild]

When my son moved off campus, our housing cost was cut in half, including utilities and cable.

So did mine but my quality of life also plummeted. Except for food. That's the only reason I moved off campus, really- the dining plan was a horrible racket.

But the proximity to classes and the library was worth the price tag.

 

[pryncess527]

Maybe you missed the little eye roll guy?

I get it. They charge those high prices because they can. And they charge communal damage fees because they can.

That's capitalism. And with people increasingly expecting colleges to "be run like a business" why would you expect anything else? If you can get a better value off campus, go for it. That's a free market

 

[mom2rtk]

That's capitalism. And with people increasingly expecting colleges to "be run like a business" why would you expect anything else? If you can get a better value off campus, go for it. That's a free market

Sure, sort of. But not really. They are required to live on campus the first 2 years.

 

[pryncess527]

Sure, sort of. But not really. They are required to live on campus the first 2 years.

He still picked the school

Joking aside, my point was, with schools (especially public schools) under increasing political pressure to operate like a business - despite the ridiculous expectation that a non-profit entity is run the same as a for-profit business - schools have little choice but to respond with these types of measures. I don't like it either, but I direct my ire at the state government officials who fund them.

 

[mom2rtk]

He still picked the school

And just graduated. And has a really great job starting soon. So it's all good.

Other schools actually had more restrictive policies. The other school he was seriously considering requires that students live on campus all 4 years.

Joking aside, my point was, with schools (especially public schools) under increasing political pressure to operate like a business - despite the ridiculous expectation that a non-profit entity is run the same as a for-profit business - schools have little choice but to respond with these types of measures. I don't like it either, but I direct my ire at the state government officials who fund them.

I don't think it's anything new. The only reason I was able to pull the funding together to finish at my University more than 30 years ago was because I moved off campus for more reasonably priced housing.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

So did mine but my quality of life also plummeted. Except for food. That's the only reason I moved off campus, really- the dining plan was a horrible racket.

But the proximity to classes and the library was worth the price tag.

When I moved off campus the place I moved to had a free bus that took us to campus..basically the only ones in town to do that. I will admit not walking to class everyday like I did when I lived on campus hurt me health wise but for us the food situation was better living on campus. Ate like crap most of the time being off campus when I had to go buy the food instead of having pre-paid for the meal plan at the beginning of the year. But living off campus gave me a better room situation anndddd I could turn on the heat or ac whenever I wanted to instead of waiting til the pre-determined date the dorms would switch

 

[DaisyJ]

So did mine but my quality of life also plummeted. Except for food. That's the only reason I moved off campus, really- the dining plan was a horrible racket.

But the proximity to classes and the library was worth the price tag.

He loves it, and he'd be the first one to let us know if his quality of life was diminished.

 

[Westcoastwild]

He loves it, and he'd be the first one to let us know if his quality of life was diminished.

Lol. Totally true, I'm sure. I think under the right circumstances, I would have loved it too. It was a vast improvement over dorm life in a lot of ways but paying a huge chunk out of my pay check for utiliities and STILL freezing, came as quite a shock. And walking a half mile in 4 feet of snow to get to class- another shock!

 

[declansdad]

And walking a half mile in 4 feet of snow to get to class- another shock!

I bet it was uphill, both ways as well.

 

[Westcoastwild]

I bet it was uphill, both ways as well.

Lol. I did live on a hill actually. Only hill in town. Going downhill was much worse than going up, though. It was...speedy.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Lol. I did live on a hill actually. Only hill in town. Going downhill was much worse than going up, though. It was...speedy.

My entire main campus of college (KU) was on a hill lol. School was really only cancelled due to weather when the busses couldn't make it up the hill (which was rare when I was there). Actually during your orientation they went over things and one of them was "KU calves are a real thing"

 

[Westcoastwild]

My entire main campus of college (KU) was on a hill lol. School was really only cancelled due to weather when the busses couldn't make it up the hill (which was rare when I was there). Actually during your orientation they went over things and one of them was "KU calves are a real thing"

that makes me crack up. You do build muscle, it's so true. UI almost never cancelled for weather. We had one snow day my junior year and that was a big thing because it hadn't happened for more than a decade.

 

[tvguy]

When my son moved off campus, our housing cost was cut in half, including utilities and cable.

We didn't realize what a bargain the dorm and meal plan were until our son moved off campus. My son't college required you to live on campus your first 2 years, so they were very price sensitive. Food was what busted the budget. But DS was using Alton Brown recipes off the internet. Literally his food budget per month was more than we were spending at home to feed DW, me and DD.

 

[mom2rtk]

that makes me crack up. You do build muscle, it's so true. UI almost never cancelled for weather. We had one snow day my junior year and that was a big thing because it hadn't happened for more than a decade.

My entire campus was on the shore of Lake Michigan. The lake effect snow could be overwhelming. Yet never cancelled. Not once.

 

[Westcoastwild]

We didn't realize what a bargain the dorm and meal plan were until our son moved off campus. My son't college required you to live on campus your first 2 years, so they were very price sensitive. Food was what busted the budget. But DS was using Alton Brown recipes off the internet. Literally his food budget per month was more than we were spending at home to feed DW, me and DD.

Lol. Yes. He was eating much better, though, I'm sure.

If you'd told me as a kid how excited I would be to buy produce and Pinterest recipes, I would have died laughing. A cousin and I were just talking about the guilty pleasure of a costco membership.

 

[Branflakes]

Would you be ok with your kid then not getting a diploma? Like it or not, I'd still make sure it got settled.

Yes. Seriously? A graduating senior in college is 22 at least. If they have the inability to manage fees, and minor reaponsibilities at this age after four years of college, they may not be ready to graduate in the first place. Also, when seniors are approaching graduation they are made fully aware of any and all outstanding fees. You can't even register to graduate when you owe anything. Further, seniors typically live in apartments and are not subject to the same time and move out guidelines as are underclassmen living in dormitories.
My son owed a book fee his senior year of HS. He procrastinated paying it. And received a notice he wouldn't be able to attend graduation rehearsals until his book fee was paid. Guess what happened? HE paid it. With HIS money from his part time job. After I chewed his **** for not taking care of it beforehand. He didn't need his hand held, he needed to take responsibility. And he did.

 

[mom2rtk]

Yes. Seriously? A graduating senior in college is 22 at least. If they have the inability to manage fees, and minor reaponsibilities at this age after four years of college, they may not be ready to graduate in the first place. Also, when seniors are approaching graduation they are made fully aware of any and all outstanding fees. You can't even register to graduate when you owe anything. Further, seniors typically live in apartments and are not subject to the same time and move out guidelines as are underclassmen living in dormitories.
My son owed a book fee his senior year of HS. He procrastinated paying it. And received a notice he wouldn't be able to attend graduation rehearsals until his book fee was paid. Guess what happened? HE paid it. With HIS money from his part time job. After I chewed his **** for not taking care of it beforehand. He didn't need his hand held, he needed to take responsibility. And he did.

Sorry, I misunderstood. I thought you meant that neither you nor your child would be paying. I'm all for putting it in the student's hands.

I think I asked my graduating senior this spring if he was sure everything was in order for him to graduate and that was it. He walked just over a week ago, but the diploma hasn't arrived yet. Still hoping it was the right way to handle it.

 

[Nettester]

Honestly, I would do nothing. That's a life lesson for your adult daughter. If you choose to live in a dorm or shared rental housing, you need to accept managing property care rules and responsibilities with others. Think you have a grievance or are being treated unfairly? Decide if it's worth it to pursue it. We're talking about $16.72. It's a small amount, but the point will resonate with these students. If I was in your daughter's place, I'd pay it and move on. But going forward, I'd keep my eye out for anyone behaving stupidly enough to cause housing fines. If this was a ridiculously unreasonable amount of money, I'd question my housing choice for next year(s) but $16.72 is just not that much to get worked up about, imo

 

[Southernmiss]

It would hardly be a blip on my radar.

A dorm full of people. Those sound like minor infractions.

Just walked in the door from orientation with ds#3 at his school 5 hours away. For the experience, we were able to stay in his dorm building . 6 floors with 2 people per room and 50 plus students per floor. There's no way to monitor 'adult children' and the 'damages' in the op sound very typical of a busy college dormitory.

There are always 'hidden' fees for activities, capital improvements, etc. tacked on to the front end of the bill anyway, why not the back end, too.

Ds#2 attends the same college and had a $3 charge at the end of his first year for a broken test tube in biology. He said it was in his equipment drawer in the classroom and rolled around and broke. I was a little surprised-figured they'd buy them in bulk and that it was already part of the course fee, but I guess it's got to be paid for somehow.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

It would hardly be a blip on my radar.

A dorm full of people. Those sound like minor infractions.

Just walked in the door from orientation with ds#3 at his school 5 hours away. For the experience, we were able to stay in his dorm building . 6 floors with 2 people per room and 50 plus students per floor. There's no way to monitor 'adult children' and the 'damages' in the op sound very typical of a busy college dormitory.

There are always 'hidden' fees for activities, capital improvements, etc. tacked on to the front end of the bill anyway, why not the back end, too.

Ds#2 attends the same college and had a $3 charge at the end of his first year for a broken test tube in biology. He said it was in his equipment drawer in the classroom and rolled around and broke. I was a little surprised-figured they'd buy them in bulk and that it was already part of the course fee, but I guess it's got to be paid for somehow.

Yeah I kinda agree $3 as a fee to pay? But then I also think that your son is just one student. There are other students attending college and that classroom too so it's not hard to imagine that a test tube gets broken. And I'm sure they buy in bulk and absorb some of the costs for things like breaking but they may have a limit to how many can get broken before they need to account for it somehow..or they just routinely charge in order to keep up with the costs. I do think it sounds like a silly thing to ask for $3 but then again I don't know how the college is set up.

The college I went to had campus fees each semester but you also had course fees too depending on what class it was. Generally speaking I had very little course fees with my psychology classes and other general classes but my husband who did aerospace engineering had a decent amount of course fees. I'm not positive but I'm assuming that if the college I went to actually looked into something like broken test tubes that way it would have been a course fee charged up front that would account for a variety of things rather than a singular charge of $3 for the test tube. I took my biology class over a summer at the Community College and I can't remember off the bat if there was a course fee but that is entirely possible.