Some people living on campus end up without a roommate assigned to them and have a single, private room while still paying for the price of a shared room, which for Evans Hall is $2,376 per semester. If during room checks it is found out that the other side of the room isn’t completely cleared, these people could be charged for the price of a single room, which is $3,564 per semester. Even just having lights hung up on the other side of your room can result in the upcharge of over $1,000. The reason for this is supposedly so that the room is ready for a new roommate to move in next semester if needed. However, charging $1,000 because of some decorations seems a bit excessive. The real reason for them doing this is to make as much money off of us as possible.

Are we honestly expected to only use one side of the already cramped room? The fact that the towel rack is mounted on one side of the room but the cable box for the tv is on the other side of the room is proof that the room is meant to be used as a whole. Many people loft their beds to put a futon to share under one of them. If you have a roommate, you are still using the other side of the room. It is not an even split for use of space. There are certain areas of the room that are communal.

I’m not saying people should be able to fill up the shelves and wardrobe on the other side of their room. However, I do think that we should be able to have a reasonable amount of things on the other side that could be easily moved to the other side if we were to get a roommate, such as lights on the wall or a comforter on the bed. I can understand a $50 fee for not having the other side cleared after being given a notice of a new roommate, but being charged anything more than that when you possibly don’t even end up with a roommate is unreasonable.