Although I’d been fooled by the glossy pictures and smiling faces on UCLA’s housing Web site as a freshman, this year, I thought I had lucked out in the housing gamble.
While my freshman experience with life on the Hill proved to be less than perfect, I was extremely excited to begin this year with a clean slate ““ to have the freedom to choose my roommate and what building I’d live in.
But I would soon learn that I had, again, been duped into dorm life and was now trapped in the complicated web of UCLA’s housing contract.
When it comes to living in the dorms, students must equip themselves with a “just-grin-and-bear-it” attitude. As residents on the Hill, we’ve all undergone the horrors of an unsatisfactory living situation ““ either personally or by witnessing the experiences of a floormate or friend.
Because even if you’ve managed to go from living in a triple to a double, or moved into one of UCLA’s newer buildings such as Rieber Terrace or Hedrick Summit ““ dorm life is still dorm life.
The dining halls are still closed at the most inconvenient hours, leaving you hungry between that long stretch from late lunch until dinner time.
The showers are designed like a mere afterthought ““ a tiny square foot of space that is squeezed in beside the bathroom sink and behind the towel racks.
And your neighbors, no matter what hour it may be, will always be blasting the worst version of some sort of techno-rock top-20 hits from their cheap and gritty speakers.
If you’ve lived in the dorms, you’ve been forced to develop a thick skin to some situation or another.
And after completing my first year as a UCLA student, I decided to opt for bigger and better dormitory horizons. My friends and I signed ourselves up for a residence life upgrade ““ from living in a hall to a suite, from having a shared bathroom to a private one.
But of course, there are still some aspects of on-campus housing that are completely out of a student’s control.
And, for me, the bottom line became an issue of convenience versus comfort ““ would I stress through another school year just so I could live on the Hill, or would I live the commuter’s life so I could be free of bad food, cramped bathrooms and annoying neighbors?
UCLA’s housing rates begin at around $9,000 for a school year, and for such a high fiscal investment, an unpleasant living situation seems completely absurd to me for any student who is not satisfied with residential life.
Housing sign-ups begin in March of winter quarter preceding the next school year.
That means that initial housing payments are made and contracts are signed in April for the following academic year.
But in the time span from April to move-in day in late September, a lot of factors can change, which makes signing that nine-month commitment to the dorms a huge and important ordeal.
There are factors that allow the university to terminate a student’s housing contract, which include elements such as withdrawal from school or failure to follow the on-campus housing handbook.
But for a student to facilitate his own leave from UCLA’s on-campus residences, he needs the “written approval of the University.”
Usually, this process begins when the student meets with his building’s Resident Director, requires some paperwork, and concludes with a $150 termination fee. The termination fee is waived if the University finds “compelling and unanticipated financial problems,” according to the UCLA housing Web site.
But what if the student is simply unsatisfied with his living situation?
Is he even allowed to leave the life on the Hill based on grounds that he is simply unhappy with his situation, not in a dire medical emergency or financial debt?
There is always red tape to go through, which leaves students who considered terminating their housing contracts, such as myself, to simply give up and ““ yet again ““ trudge through another school year in residence life.
So, while the convenience of living in the dorms is tempting, consider all your living options and really analyze the pros and cons of life on the Hill before you’re bound in by the stubborn housing contract.
As for me, I’m looking forward to deleting my reminder e-mails to “Sign up for UCLA Housing!” and explore other living options ““ commuting, living in the apartments, or even studying abroad.
Housing woes? E-mail Chung at lchung@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.