Dorm contracts not selling
By Patrick Low
Of the F.maraid
When University freshman Jayne Hanslovan
moved out of the campus dormitories and into the
Delta Gamma sorority, she thought getting rid of
her nine-month dorm contract would be relative
ly easy. All she had to do was forfeit her $50
deposit and pay the University’s Housing [Depart
ment $1 a day until she found someone to take her
place.
But it’s been more than a month since she
advertised her contract for sale in the Oregon Dai
ly Emerald and on various notice
boards around campus, and so
far she says the response has
ed to lose money. The only way we could take in
the extra money is to raise room and board rates.
“So our stance has been for years that we
advertise ourselves in the long-term housing
business. And anybody who breaks that contract
shouldn't be subsidized by the people who stay
here all year.
If we went by, say, a term-by-term contract,
we’d probably have to raise room and board rates.
So in effect the people who do stay would be sub
sidizing those (who leave),” Romm says.
Still, the people who get stuck with the $l-a
day penalty often feel they are the ones subsidiz
ing the housing budget, a frustration that often
translates into hostility toward the
“I thought it would be
easy to sell my contract,
because I thought there were a
lot of people waiting to get in.
But there weren’t,” she says.
Hanslovan is one
of about 30 students
who moved out of the
dorms this term and
discovered in the
following weeks how
costly and frustrating
getting rid of a dorm
contract can be. An
unsold contract can
cost more than $200
in daily penalties.
• Potential
buyers are scarce
In the middle of
a term, and stiff
competition
among the
sellers accounts
for the seductive
promises of cash
or libations that
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accompany dorm contracts advertised
for sale in the Emerald classified ads.
Many students leave the dorms to join and
move into a fraternity or sorority, and some are
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“It’s like
they’ve got a
racket go
ing,” said
one disgruntl
ed ex-dorm
resident
whose frater
nity is paying
75 percent of
his penalties.
Romm
says he’s heard the
complaints about his.
department’s year
long contract ripping
students off, and he
understands how they
feel. But the policies
exist to protect the
Housing Department,
since it is not a non
profit organization,
Romm says.
The department must
squeeze out some profit
in order to make
payments on the bonds
that the University sold
to build the dorms, he
savs.
iuv.rj( biiuu^u iw ^yiiipcusauuu iui me
contract fees from their Greek houses. However,
Hanslovan's sorority does not offer such help,
and she can't afford to have the $l-a-day penalty
cost hanging over her head, she says.
Hanslovan says she sought help from the
Housing Department but received virtually no
assistance in finding a replacement for her dorm
unit.
“1 was sort of surprised,” she says. ‘‘They're
the Housing Department and I thought they’d
help me line up people. I went in there, and they
said all they could do for me was tell me where to
put up ads. I figured there’d be more of a way
they could help me.”
Dick Romm', director of residence life, admits
Housing Department policies, have given the
department a somewhat shady reputation. But the
policies must remain, given'the financial realities
of operating the dorms, he explains.
Romm says contracts are long-term because
it’s the only way the department can be
guaranteed a fixed number of residents for three
terms,
"If we have a term-by-term contract we
would probably have to budget on the fact that
we’ll be less full,” Romm explains. “We’ll have
to be more conservative because we’re not allow
‘If there was some natural disaster and they
have to close the University, we have to guarantee
the state of Oregon that we can pay the mortgage
for two years,” he says. “Otherwise you will
default on the bonds, and the taxpayers have to
pay. So we have to make enough money over and
above our expenses to make a two year reserve.”
About $230 out of each resident’s room and
board is allocated for the mortgage payment,
Romm says. And if a person decides to leave, he
or she is made to pay $1 a day to cover the
mortgage.
In addition, each empty bed constitutes a loss
of $2,200, and right now there are 40 of them, he
says. Any disincentive to leave, such as not refun
ding the $50 dorm deposit, helps to keep the
department in the black, he says..
“I realize that people change their minds,
and that’s why we have ways to get out of the con
tract,” he adds. “But they are ways in which we
won’t lose a great deal of money.”
“But if we were completely full, and we had
someone who wanted to sell their contract, then
we will help them find replacements.” he says.
In the meantime, Hanslovan says she will
advertise her contract again at the end of the term,
when a new crop of students will be moving into
the dorms.
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