Arts and humanities Sophomore Vinnie Sawaya looks at the ceiling after painting as human biology senior Ben McPherson uses a roller to paint the ceiling Monday afternoon in Brody Complex. Sawaya explained that dorm rooms are left messy when students move out for the summer, “I’m just glad I’m painting and not cleaning.”
Lauren Walters, a music education junior, said she still hasn’t been billed for the hole her roommate put in the ceiling of her Gilchrist Hall dorm room. Other MSU students haven’t been as lucky.
Damages from the past year have been assessed, and now residence halls are billing students with charges ranging from leaving a bathroom dirty to carpet removal. The billed students will then receive a statement including the additional costs in their student account.
“We actually reported (the hole) to the front desk, and they never did anything about it,” Walters said. “I had another friend, he built my loft and put two holes in the wall. I’m not sure if they noticed, we filled them up with putty, (but) they are pretty noticeable.”
Walters said she was relieved she hadn’t been charged.
“My parents would have paid the bill. They knew about the hole in the ceiling, but I think they would have been mad about the holes in the wall,” she said.
Alex McCallum, a psychology junior and former resident mentor, said that mentors are the ones who start the dorm billing process after students move out.
“What we did was we went through each room on our floor and made sure that everyone was out of the room,” McCallum said. “If there was anything immediate that needed to be taken out, like a candle burning or broken glass on the floor, we would notify summer maintenance.”
Brody Complex Facility Manager Chip Hornburg said a team of staff members then go through the rooms and assess wear and tear and cleanliness of the rooms and bathrooms.
The staff takes digital pictures of damages and fill out room damage sheets, which then go to a designated team member to assess appropriate room charges based upon photos, level of damage and the room condition sheet filled out by the room’s residents at the beginning of the year, Hornburg said.
The assessment is then reviewed by the facility manager before being put on the student’s account, he said.
“Our goal is to provide a clean and maintained facility for the students,” Hornburg said. “That is why we put so much time into cleaning and refurnishing our facilities.”
After assessments, staff fix the damages in the rooms and repaint walls.
Charging students for their damages lowers costs for the other students, he said.
“It is just looking to recoup the charges that are above wear and tear and to offset room and board rates – to hold those people accountable for what they’ve done rather than increase the room and board rates,” Hornburg said.
Angela Brown, director of University Housing, said it’s not difficult to figure out the difference between existing damages, and those made by students.
“I think that the teams are very objective when they go through and determine what is the damage that should be billed for, and what is the damage that is just wear and tear,” Brown said. “There is a huge distinction, you can tell what is intentional and what is wear and tear.”
Mark Dobson, Residence Halls Association president, said he has seen students leave a mess in their rooms when they move out, even though they should be able to restore their rooms to their original state at the year’s end.
“I would always advise anyone that it is our home for a while, but we never own that space,” he said.
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