As the school year winds on, the warm, back-to-school feeling has quickly come to an end. Midterm exams, papers and extracurricular obligations are upon us. Students' minds are filled not only with equations, lists of facts or intricate concepts, but also the daunting responsibility of finding somewhere to live next year.
Last week, several major property management companies, such as JSM, Steve Brown and Madison Property Management, released leases for the next school year. Year after year, the rush to claim a property close to campus reveals the horrendousness of the housing market.
One of the major obstacles presented by this time crunch is deciding who to live with. This is a particularly difficult task for freshmen, as they are just getting to know each other and still have not met nearly enough people to decide who they would and would not want to live with. Freshmen are also increasing their involvement in various student activities, such as Greek life or student orgs.
Specifically considering students involved in the Greek system, these students did not have adequate time to decide on a group, and furthermore if they want to live in a specific chapter's house.
Generally, students with a year on campus have less trouble finding roommates they truly want to live with, but they've only lived together for approximately six weeks. That's nowhere near enough time to truly determine if your current group is feasible for another year together.
After finding roommates, students must decide what building they want to live in. Most students moved in while the weather was still warm and in no way are sure if they want to stay or leave their house or building - especially having not experienced the winter in their building yet.
Steve Brown, in particular, informs residents mid-September that they have until Sept. 27 to resign their leases. Then, they have another week to establish move-in priority for their building. On Oct. 15, the buildings are opened up for anyone to claim. Students hoping to claim these vacancies camp out - the most dedicated for three days and nights - outside of the Steve Brown leasing headquarters, waiting for their turn to find a potential home for fall of 2009.
Aside from choosing a roommate and a place to live, many other variables create conflicts when attempting to make these decisions.
Many students choose to study abroad - forcing them to search for sublets. Students going abroad battle through the downtown area searching for apartments willing to do a one-semester lease to avoid subletting. Such leases disappear quickly, and students have to swarm others trying to secure a sublet situation so they are not stuck paying thousands of dollars for an uninhabited apartment for an entire semester.
Students who stick around often have to fill vacancies left by roommates abroad to avoid living in a four-bedroom apartment with three sub-letters once their roommates leave. Leasing issues aside, how can sophomores in their sixth week of school decide what they are going to do three semesters from now? Things happen, life changes and plans alter. Getting stuck in a living situation that no longer fits the student is a messy process to attempt to change.
Timing also comes into play for students involved in Greek life, who have the opportunity to run for the executive board"" of their Greek chapters. These elections typically do not occur until November - far after the leasing rush begins.
Older students are also put in a strange place with leasing. Those applying to graduate school after college don't hear admissions decisions until March, leaving seniors very little time to scramble for apartments afterward. If a student, hoping to remain in Madison signs a lease right now but does not get accepted into the graduate school, they are left with a lease that is extremely difficult to get out of or transfer. If a student does not sign a lease but then is later accepted, housing proximate to campus is extremely difficult to find.
Obviously management companies have to deal with hundreds of students attempting to secure a place to live, but asking them to wait until younger students have better acclimated themselves to the university is not unreasonable in any way. Pushing this process back until at least the beginning of the spring semester would be extremely beneficial for all students.
Roz Koff is a sophomore majoring in journalism and women's studies. Please send responses to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
