Is it fair that students living in University residence
could possibly lose $3000 dollars? Students like myself living in the
University of Ottawa’s Brooks or Hyman Soloway residences have to pay for a 12
month lease, even if we leave for the summer. As such, we could have to pay the
$3000 summer fee if we don’t find someone to sublet or take over our room. If
we do find someone, it will mostly likely not be someone who will be willing to
cover the entire $3000 fee, meaning we lose hundreds of dollars. Yet, the
University never once said that it would be so hard to find someone that would
cover the entire fee. Some first year students were not even given the option
of a different residence with an 8 month lease, meaning they had to take a 12
month lease. Let's tell housing services and the University administration that
we want this to change. Sign this petition asking the University to forgive the
$3000 summer fee for those that leave town. Imagine you’re a University student.
You want a safe, clean, secure, and affordable place to live on campus. You
chose Brooks or Hyman Soloway. You know you’ll be out of town for the summer,
and you can only get a 12 month lease, but it says you can sublet it out. So
you take the room and put out ads looking for someone to sublet the room and
pay the total $3000 summer fee. If you paid $3000 for a 4 month school term,
why wouldn’t another student? But then March comes, and you still can’t find
someone to take the place for the cost of the total summer fee. You’re going to
have to sublet it for less and lose hundreds of dollars. The University never
said this would be so likely. What’s even worse is, imagine you’re a first year
student and you were only given the option of a 12 month lease in one of these
buildings. You could take it or get an apartment in a city you may have never
even been to. Should you have to lose up to $3000 because the University only
gave you that option or because they didn’t inform you of how unlikely it would
be to find a proper sublet? No! Let them know that students they improperly informed
shouldn’t have to lose up to $3000.
I live in Brooks and will not be staying the summer. This is a current issue for a lot of people that are staying in the brooks, and is a major problem that I have learned now that people have expressed difficulties with in the past. Its an awful position to be put in, and a lot of students are loosing a lot of money trying to sublet for the bare minimum just to not have to pay the full summer fee.