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BYU students temporarily 'on street'
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There are also many nice apartment complexes that let you move in much earlier. I know because I lived in one for three years. And yes, when you have one cleaning crew or one maintenance crew it might just take 7-12 days to clean, repair 100-200 units.
There are many options out there for housing, however many students don't think those options are "good enough for them". Because of that I really don't feel like a lot of their whining is justified.
And parents should be informed that other options are available than year-round contracts and moving in on September 29.
If you're not a Gap Victim, you are probably paying 4 months of unused rent.
When you aren't at BYU, these sorts of gaps happen all the time when you move from one apartment to another. There will be a gap where you have to be out of your apartment, but can't move in to the next one for a period of time. This is not a giant conspiracy to soak the students. This happens all the time.
The move-in time is in the lease agreement you sign at the beginning of the year. If you don't like the lease, then don't sign it. To demand that BYU fixes the problem ignores the ability for the free marketplace to fix it. If students stop signing leases that have a gap, then landlords will stop writing them in.
Students, as a consumer, you have much more power than you give yourself credit for...
BYU Housing should run the on-campus dorms, and then get out of the off-campus and let the Provo/Orem student housing market govern itself. If this presents problems for the morality of the students, then perhaps BYU needs to take to heart Joseph Smith's words: �I teach them correct principles, and they govern themselves� (�The Organization of the Church,� Millennial Star, Nov. 15, 1851,339).
It appears that BYU's obsessive need to restrict free-market housing arrangements is a statement that they lack faith either in their ability to teach correct principles, or in their students' ability to live those principles.
By the way, does anyone have a comprehensive explanation as to why BYU insists on interfering with the housing market?
How did this interference begin?
How did they justify it?
Has BYU published any literature (e.g., a pamphlet or something) which explains their justification?
Please, I am hoping for intelligent, thorough, non-sarcastic responses.
Yes, it is true that BYU students voluntarily sign contracts which clearly state that they will be kicked out mid-August.
But the idea that BYU students have options which DON'T include a mid-August kick-out date is FALSE. The truth is that the only options the Honor Code allows them are bad ones.
If they want to avoid expulsion from the University they HAVE TO sign a housing contract which kicks them out mid-August (this only applies to single undergrads). That is the only choice BYU allows them! So, unless they transfer to another University, they are stuck with these bad contracts.
Have I made myself clear? The students have no real market power! The only "power" they have is to transfer to a different school!
This situation reminds me of the factory towns of the industrial revolution era, where residents had no choice but to accept whatever terms their landlords offered them. The landlords had a total monopoly on the market. The factory owners controlled housing, commodities... everything.
For better or for worse, BYU has handed a monopoly to the apartment managers within the "approved" boundaries.
A real university where professors get tenure, the exercise of agency is actually allowed, beards ok, youtube available, etc.
There are many such places. It's a big world.
Have you considered other reasons why the students appear this way to you? Not all students have cars, and many of them are borrowing their parents' cars if they don't have their own, and if they do have their own, I think the majority of those cars are not expensive, or they bought a scooter to save on gas and price. Same thing with phones.
Meals. Too many live off Ramen but I do know of those who seem to think they have to live off the expensive cafeteria food 3xday, 6 or 7xweek. As for snowmobiles and boats, very funny.
Or maybe you just manage some of the higher-end complexes, so all the students you see are the rich ones who can afford the ridiculous prices of $300/400+ a month rent, and they also have nicer clothes and cars. Or maybe you manage a bunch of the cheaper ones, and students who live there can actually afford nice stuff.
To complain that it is a hassle to have to move twice in the matter of a couple of months is just that ... complaining. There are hassles in life. Deal with it. Sometimes you have to deal with inconveniences.
The fact is THERE ARE OTHER SOLUTIONS, but they do require some hunting on your part. There are condos out there that will allow you to stay. I allow my students to stay in the condo if needed and numerous other posters have said likewise.
Find a landlord that will stipulate in the contract that you won't be kicked out if your next apartment isn't available.
Speaking for the landlords, it is so much easier for maintenance if you aren't working around renters belongings. I manage a condo for girls and I won't allow male maintenance in the apartment unless I am there -- it's a safety issue for everybody, me, my renters and my maintenance people.
When I replace carpeting, tile, or fixing drywall, all of which need to be done this break, it is pretty hard to get it done quickly if I have to move all of their belongings before we can get started each morning.
Everybody wants repairs made and cleaning done, nobody wants to be inconvenienced by them. Unless you have a magic wand, it's pretty hard to have both.
Our family lives 1800 miles from BYU, and we have absolutely no family to help our daughter for 10 days of no housing in August. She does plan ahead and each solution costs our family several hundreds of dollars. She already paid for a whole month of rent. The year-round contracts are also a form of robbery to these students.
I think many folks in Utah have no idea how hard it is for foreign students and kids from out of the state to get along out there without relatives.
I worked for the residential life department at a state university when I went to college. If there were more on-campus housing arrangments at BYU, many, many students would benefit - especially out-of-state and foreign students.
Student planning is not the only problem here.
I agree with the guy who said, if you're smart enough to be at BYU then stop complaining and figure something out. Golly. It's always someone else's fault that we don't have everything we want or that "my life is supposed to be perfect but it isn't because of this or that." Life will never be fair.
And amen to the apartment manager who says that student use their money to "keep up with the Jones' kid."
ohbytheway, BYU football season tickets are at record highs...wonder why.
"Can the general public help? What if we have a room available?"
These students don't want to be treated like dogs and be forced to live with strangers. I know most students wouldn't want to live with someone that posts on an online forum asking "what if we have a room available?" Is that your way of finding your victims?
We should have concern about the female student who is raped because she's forced to live with someone she thinks is a nice LDS family or the young man who is raped by a member of one of these families?
Will BYU conduct background checks for students who are forced to live with strangers? Will they ensure their safety? Or will they allow the parasites who own these apartment complexes to move these students around like dogs?
"How and when do people propose that the landlords clean, paint, and make repairs? Or would people prefer that none of that is done?"
I live in a Student apartment and management does not paint, clean or make repairs between semester instead they leave me a notice telling me to have my apartment clean but they don't even check. If they actually did that we would be really happy but they don't.
"What a bunch of morons. I went to and graduated from BYU and it is not a problem for those with common sense and a brain. There is plenty of hotel space. Have a clue...have a plan."
Not everyone can afford to stay in a hotel for 10 days. Assuming they find a really cheap hotel with vacancies they would still have to pay almost $30 a day or $300 for 10 days. That's a months rent for some students and they can't afford it.
Maybe your mommy and your daddy were wealthy and could afford to put you up in a hotel but not all students have parents or family that are wealthy enough to spend $300 for 10 days. Some don't even have parents and were in foster care.
Here's a good plan for these students.
Don't move out of the apartment and force them to take you to court. By the time they can get you out legally it will be 7 to 10 days.
That will show them!
They are willing to use the law to their advantage so you should do the same until their husband in the Legislature sponsors a bill.
"BYU itself made me move out of the dorms between summer term and fall semester so that they could house people for Education Week even though I was coming right back to the same room. Fortunately, I was able to store my stuff at my sister's apartment and then I was able to go home for the break. It seems to me that students should take priority over people attending Education Week."
I say to hell with fat old ladies who want to attend Education Week. Maybe if students had a backbone and didn't go home and instead bought some tents and all decided to camp out on BYU campus then the fat old guys at BYU might reconsider their decision to force students out of the dorms.
We know that the fat old ladies who attend Education Week don't want to see students urinating in public or in pajamas on the Quad. Of course BYU could call the police and have the students arrested but that is 10 free days in jail. Never mind. I just learned that the Utah County jail charge people for time spent in jail. So you are out of luck either way!
"I'm having the same problem. I'm supposed to move out on the 25th, and move in on the 29th."
Don't move out. If they post the eviction notice on the 26th you will have until the 29th to vacate and they will be forced to go to the court on August 1st and the Sheriff won't show up until the 2nd.
"How can I say what cleaning has been done during the "gap"? Because, come that time of year, I simply don't move out. I'm not going to let some apartment manager force me into homelessness until they send the cops."
Good for you. A student with a backbone! If they want to fight me over $30 to $40 plus court costs I'm happy to oblige and pay the money when I feel like it as the apartment manager tries to enforce their court judgment through a collection agency.
"It is not "your" apartment and you have NOT paid for it if the gap dates are disclosed and you signed the lease."
Don't worry. I'm sure he/she pays for the number of days that he/she stays during the gap. By the time the police show up it is somewhere between 4 and 9 days.
"Most people know they have to pay for their night's lodging. Everyone does it. Stop whining about paying for hotel fees or whatever."
Why do that when paying to stay in your apartment after receiving an eviction notice is cheaper then paying for a hotel?
"If you didn't want to figure out housing you could have stayed local to your parents' home and lived there. This is real life. Get used to it."
Or maybe he/she can have a backbone and make the apartment managers realize this is "real life" and not all tenants are pushovers. If they want to spend their money on an eviction and get a judgment that he/she isn't going to pay then go ahead. I have several judgments that I'm never going to pay and I tell the collection agents to go to hell.
You know what? I've known for four darn months now that I'm going to be homeless for 12 days. Could I have waited and found another contract? Possibly. But at the rate BYU housing goes, it's not something you want to push your luck. If you find a decent place, you're almost obligated to take it, no matter what the contract end date is. Then you think that we can just line someone up to live with and it won't be a problem. IT IS!!! I called around and my friends who aren't moving don't have room in their apartments!!! My parents are in WASHINGTON!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where the heck am I supposed to live? I'm living in Salt Lake with a friend now. Is it BYU approved? No! But what am I supposed to do? Live in my car? Pay $15 per night of money that I DON'T HAVE TO WASTE???? This issue makes me SOOOOO angry!!!!!
After more than 2 weeks of calling him every day and getting NO results except for "empty promises", I tried a new strategy and started calling and waking him at 3:30AM (in the morning) to remind him that cold showers and/or baths are not a fun experience. It finally got fixed about two more weeks later. That was in the winter months, I believe in November/December. It was a "BYU Approved" apartment unit on 500 East.
Most of my other landlords were good.
The BYU experience does have some unique flavors and memories, But I'm glad I went. The last time I was in Provo, I drove around some and most of those same housing complexes are still there.
Good Luck BYU Students!!!
This is part of the learning experience to be remembered. It's ALL funn to talk about
in retrospect. "Go Cougars!!!"
"My Best 4 Years"....
To me, this points out the absurdity of the "gap." I believe that no one is under any obligation to obey stupid, inapplicable rules and laws. If the management ain't gonna clean the place (and mind you, that is the only reason there is a "gap" at all in the first place), then don't leave! No one is the worse off . . . though haters will insist that the $2.47 worth of electricity you use is unacceptable.
Speaking of stupid laws, I hear it's illegal to carry ice cream in your back pocket on Sundays in Georgia . . . .
I suppose we should all respect that law, too.
BYU creates various and specific standards for their housing in everything from moral code to safety regulations. Why can't they create a standard to address such a pervasive problem?
Now hopefully your lives will get back in order and you can spend another year worrying about what you will do for next year's Education Week.
As far as apartments being up to BYU standards I know someone who was/is going to BYU who is single/divorced with children. They even told her where she had to live which was much more expensive then the apartment that she had found for herself before moving to Utah. If she is old enough to have married, have children and divorce personally she's mature enough to decide what is best for her and her children.
Personally, though, I'd just go to school somewhere else.
BYU should make it their business to see to it that BYU approved housing for students is safe and secure for the students, especially since they require such high standards. In the �real world� apartment and housing complexes are able to perform maintenance without kicking folks out of the apartment in most cases. Even when they do, they move them into another apartment while the work is being done. As a parent who has been preparing my daughter to attend BYU, perhaps it is time to guide her to another University that looks after their students, and does not ENCOURGE landlords to toss them out on the street!
1) students agree months ahead of time on a move out date. The homeless are lazy and don't plan ahead.
2) BYU's conflict resolution process is pathetic, based on controlling egos and inexperienced staff. Landlords can't enforce rules without going through a lengthy and useless resolution process, unlike regular court.
The CCR regularly allows the students to be dishonorable.
3) Yes, BYU students lie, including return missionaries who fail to pay rent, bring handguns to their units, have girls overnight, smoke, drink and frolic like most college students across America..and sadly, parents defend them.
3) Landlords are forced to comply to BYU standards or be threatened with "losing their contract approval". So, we must clean carpets, patch walls, paint, change bulbs, rekey locks, put on new screens and new toilet seats on a regular annual basis - when should it get done?
4) BYU forces approved complexes to pay tenants $25 each to move them to another unit temporarily while doing this required work.
I'm getting out. It's embarrassing to witness this shameful behavior amongst church members.
Secondly, the Church as a religious organization is not spurring BYU's "desire for money", but the fact that BYU is a business means that it is there to make money.
If you have a problem with housing at BYU, you don't need to go here to gain eternal salvation, go somewhere you'll be happy.
I also can't understand the griping about the price gouging going on here. Try to find the same standards elsewhere for $200-$250 for a private room.
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