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BYU students temporarily 'on street'
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What a crock. No responsibility, except to force those private entities to comply with the BYU Approved Housing program or not be able to rent to BYU singles. Ridiculous. This is why the system doesn't work: BYU forces wacky living rules on private companies, but then won't protect the students when they get pushed around by those companies who have already bent over backward to appease BYU into letting them do business. How is BYU's arrangement not illegal?
Sincerely,
Cosmo
out side of the presidents office. then the spirit will be stronger and help them solve the problem.
they can "follow the spirit" to there tents at night.
To the very few planless, clueless students:
Stop being such babies. You signed a contract and have known for at least 2-4 months when your spring/summer contract ends and when your new contract begins. Anybody with half-a-brain could plainly see if there was a gap between contracts.
Make a friend locally so you can crash at their home for a couple of weeks (remember to be a courteous guest). Go back home to see your parents. Take a break to visit some of the National Parks in Utah.
Most of all, learn to take a little personal responsibility.
College life is supposed to teach you how to be independent and not rely on mommy and daddy to do everything for you. Stop expecting BYU to be a surrogate parent.
I love the BYU experience, the classes, students, and professors, but the BYU administration is terrible. Probably one of the worst in the country, and very stubborn and will not help you. I just try to work around them.
Then for BYU to say that the contracts are totally between the resident and the owner, is a further policy error.
If BYU has the right of approval for single housing, shouldn't they also demand a right of approval for the contracts? (A single approved contract form would do nicely.)
Otherwise the students are paying more for housing, and getting nothing in return.
Provo makes a financial killing from Education Week, but to make BYU students homeless at the same time is inexcusable!
Live in a hotel for 12 days on a students budget? Have you nay-sayers forgotten what it is like to live on such a budget? Last year I moved into my apartment early because I had nowhere to go - the "so-called" maintenance and cleaning never took place. No one ever came to lift a finger and clean, paint, or replace appliances. I know that is not the case in all apartments and that some landlords do actually care about maintaining their units, but living out of a car or crashing on someone's couch for 10 or more days is ludicrous.
College-aged students are adults. They do not need to be treated like kindergarten students.
And how come Provo apartments need 12 days to do cleaning and maintenance when apartments in Salt Lake for U of U students don't? Students are required to do rigorous cleaning checks before checking out. The apartments are already clean.
The reason for the gap is exactly as Bill said. It's so the apartments can be rented out to education week attendees. We were charged a full month of rent only to be kicked out on the 16th. Now that doesn't make sense to me.
Forcing usually financially strapped students to pay out the nose to store their belongings, live out of a car, or pay hotel prices for that period of time is heinous. Right now my little Corolla is stuffed to overflowing with my stuff. What if my car gets broken into? Would that help the situation? BYU will only change the system when students start getting injured, arrested, or even kicked out of school because they broke the "honor code" that doesn't actually protect them during the 10 days of homelessness.
There are several possible solutions.
1. Allow students to move in early if they don't mind doing the cleaning themselves. Even if we could move belongings into the apartment and leave them on the bed and out of the way for cleaning it would be better than leaving them somewhere. Storage facilities could give discounts too.
2. Hotels give discounts and reserve a certain number of rooms during education week specifically for students.
When I was a student, my roommate and I slept on the floor of his girlfriend's apartment. As far as I know, he actually did stay on the floor the whole time we were there, but, again, that's probably not a "BYU-approved" solution.
With a large amount of students moving to high end places during the summer and then back out, if the complexes didn't take that time to clean and paint etc. it would be a disservice to the students moving in for the fall semester having to deal with unmaintained apartments.
The Desert News missed out by not reporting both sides of the issue. I attended BYU and regularly did this very thing knowing there would be a transition period between move out and move it but it was worth it to me.
BYU controls enough about BYU approved housing they don't need to start setting move in and move out dates.
BYU supposedly demands landlords manage their complexes using certain contracts. Yet, when landlords violate these contracts time and time again, students who want to fight back are forced into a toothless "mediation" process over and over and over again - toothless because BYU refuses to help the students it is contractually obligated to assist. Why not just let the matter go directly to a small claims court capable of, you know, actually passing judgment and enforcing it?
Yes, BYU students ought to look more carefully at their contracts. But the fact remains that BYU itself has 1) limited the geographical area in which they can live severely and 2) held a large conference with housing demands in that same area. BYU, once again, has harmed its students.
And that's fine by me. I own a house, so I'm unaffected. But when BYU comes around to ask its alumni for donations, I hope the alumni remember what a fair-weather friend the university has been.
It is heartless to leave thousands of students this way. This has nothing to do with "planning" and "students being responsible"! It has everything to making apartment contracts the way the rest of the developed world does.
Maybe I just had uncommonly good experiences...it sounds like there are some landlords who aren't as helpful. That's too bad, because the ones who look out for their tenants' interests get good word-of-mouth advertising and fill up fast.
I think it helps, though, if the tenant maintains a good relationship with the landlord throughout the year, and then is proactive in asking for help, offering services in return.
I do wish landlords would not make their contracts year-long. The nature of college life---internships, study abroads, etc.---makes it hard to know where you're going to be a year in advance.
I manage several student apartments. We do have a gap between when students are supposed to moved out and when they move in. I have never rented it out for Education week. Instead, I use the time to clean the carpets, paint walls and make other repairs. It doesn't take 12 days to do the repairs and cleaning, but because all the condos in the valley are being maintained that week, it is hard to get the cleaners and installers in. They are booked solid those 2 weeks.
You make is sound like it's the middle of winter...students need to be a bit more responsible and plan ahead. Does it suck? Yes. I have a younger brother and sister who are going through this right now (my younger brother is staying with us for 2 weeks). But he planned ahead. Students: use that little brain of yours and come up with a plan. I'm sure you'll be ok.
Apparently, long-term students are bad for business. The landlord gets more deposits and never has returning tenants!
If you don't want to be homeless for, Oh, MY GOSH, 12 days, go to the local junior college for a couple of years, go home during the break, stay in your apartment complex.
If you're worried about your on-campus job, there are plenty of international students that want those hours and you'll still have a job in almost all places when you get back.
One other option is just to get married, and then you won't have to worry about it.
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So BYU prefers to have it's students homeless for over a week, which is dangerous, and not good for students who have enough worries, and now to include being homeless.
Provo's Homeless population of students should be a major concern for the university, city and residents of the town.