University Late Check-Out Policy Leaves Students Paying to Stay
< < Back toBy Maggie Prosser
Ohio University’s campus will close on May 4, driving students out of dorms and forcing daunting fees on those who choose—or need—to stay in residence halls after finals.
Sophomore Tess Kazdin is a student employee at Jefferson Marketplace, which is the only culinary service staying open on May 5. She will stay in her dormitory for an extra day to work at the market on Saturday.
Kazdin and her fellow student employees feared paying the “Late Check-Out Fee,” which can cost upwards of $100 a night. However, she said the university waved the fee for student workers.
“There was a lot of drama because all my co-workers at Jeff with me who live in the dorms, we were worried we would have to pay extra money and literally pay to work, but its free,” Kazdin said.
A spokesperson for Culinary Services said residential students will not work on May 5, but Kazdin said her supervisor scheduled her knowing she lived in a dorm.
Jeff will remain open for visitors and members of the community. The university had the market’s calendar a year in advance, which included the extra Saturday a university spokesperson said. Kazdin said her supervisor did not tell her she would be working the extra day until late April.
While student employees do not have to pay to stay on campus, others, like international students, still face the fees.
Hardika Singh, a freshman from India, struggled to find housing for the summer. When she eventually signed a lease for an apartment, it didn’t line up with the closing of the dorms.
Singh said she networked to find housing and avoid paying to stay in the residence halls. The quality of the dorms is not worth the price, she said.
“My living situation is going to be kind of messy,” Singh said. “The lease doesn’t start until my May 7. But until May 7 I’m actually going to be living with Professor Victoria LaPoe and Professor Ben.”
International students can reach out to the Office of Global Affairs and International Studies for help with housing. Singh has not contacted the office because she thinks they would not be helpful.
“They would say ‘try to find an apartment, sign a lease or do you have a friend who can help you,'” she said.
Now that Singh has living arrangements, she is mostly worried about packing.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do, but I’ve got two big suitcases,” she said. “We have to make it work.”
Singh is one of over 1,000 international students at Ohio U. The university requires freshman and sophomores to live in the dorms.
The Office of Global Affairs and International Studies do not respond to requests for comment on its involvement with helping students find housing.