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With Michigan State University calling for students to stay away from campus, I’d like to call attention to another problem that has been exasperated by the coronavirus pandemic: off-campus leases.
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Students at Michigan State started signing leases for the 2020-2021 school year back in October 2019. Yes, leases that would not start for 10 months.
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An organization that I helped advise at MSU would run executive board selections in November. Board members were supposed to live in the organization’s house. Many members did not want a position because they had already signed leases for the next academic year.
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This is NOVEMBER. We had to bump selections to September in order to make sure the members who weren’t selected for executive board could sign leases for the following academic year.
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No, no one “forces” the student students to sign a lease. But rental companies are putting on the pressure to sign earlier and earlier. They’re holding open houses in September for apartments that won’t be available until the following academic year.
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They’re offering incentives and bonuses to sign early. If a student likes the place they live, they may have to commit almost a year in advance to renew their lease to avoid losing their place. This is especially true if they want an apartment close to campus or a house.
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What about simply breaking the lease? Well, that can be pretty costly, too. I had to break my lease in Michigan to move down to Tennessee. The early termination fee was two months of rent. I had to give 60 days notice, or else I triggered an additional fee of $150.
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(In all fairness, my relocation package covered all this, thankfully. Not everyone has that opportunity.)
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Not all leases have a breakage clause. Some require the student to find someone else to take over the lease. Given today’s pandemic climate, students will be hard-pressed to do that.
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Much like this past spring semester, students will be in a hard place with classes made virtual. Do they attempt to break their lease and lose a spot for a hopeful spring semester? Do they stay home and pay rent on an empty room? Do they go and tough it out?
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(That last one may be particularly worrisome concerning potential spread of coronavirus. Even if classes are online and bars are closed, there is nothing to prevent students from holding their own house parties off-campus. We all know it will happen- it’s happening now.)
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To rub salt in the wound, many college students weren’t eligible for the $1200 stimulus check because they were claimed as dependents by their parents.
Many students were relying on jobs off and on campus to help them with bills. Those jobs may not be there this fall.
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Many students were relying on jobs off and on campus to help them with bills. Those jobs may not be there this fall.
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I don’t have the answers, but Michigan State University and the city of East Lansing should be working together to come up with solutions- both for this year and in future years.
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