For most college students, campus life defines their four years in higher education. But Annmarie Bartolini believes her 19-year-old daughter is being robbed of the opportunity to live on campus.
“They’re getting shoved around,” said Bartolini.
Her daughter Jessica, is a junior at the University of New Haven.
She’s lived on campus for the past two years, but UNH no longer guarantees housing for upperclassmen, so Jessica entered a lottery, with first dibs on housing going to freshmen.
She had to pay a $300 nonrefundable fee.
“She’s nervous because she doesn’t have a place to stay and we have to go find a place to stay,” said Bartolini.
Jessica didn’t get university housing in the lottery, which means her name would be put on a waiting list.
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But Annmarie said there’s no time to wait, Jessica needs to find an off-campus apartment and they want that deposit back to help pay for it.
“I don’t have a money tree in my backyard. I can’t go pick it,” said Bartolini.
Annmarie read up on UNH policy, which states that the nonrefundable deposit would be credited to her daughter's account only if the university wasn’t able to find her housing.
“If the student finds there is housing but the housing is not what they wanted, then the fee is nonrefundable if they refuse the housing,” said UNH Spokesperson Karen Grava.
We spoke with campus officials who told the Troubleshooters they’d look into this.
It turns out, parents like Annmarie can get their money back in cash, as soon as their child asks to be taken off the on-campus housing waiting list.
Annmarie said that wasn’t what she was told. In fact, she said she never even got a response from university officials.
UNH drew criticism two years ago when it overhauled its housing policy to give underclassmen first choice on where to live. The move came at a time of record enrollment in the freshman class. Annmarie blames the overflow for her daughter’s troubles finding housing.
“It’s not fair. I think that if you start there as a freshman and you have housing, you should have housing for all the years that you are going to be there,” she said.
UNH contends it does everything it can to ensure its students find housing, and in fact 60 percent of UNH students live on campus.
“We’ve also increased the number of dorms. We’ve added a brand new dorm called Soundview,” said Grava, “We’ll have a second new dormitory open in 2014.”
For Annmarie, the issue isn’t just about money. It’s about peace of mind.
“We don’t know the area. I want my kid safe. I don’t want my kid in jeopardy,” she said.
