With spring break approaching, I found myself searching for the cheapest flight to visit my family during the week-long vacation. After countless Expedia searches, I found the cheapest flight for Saturday, March 9. After my last set of exams at the end of this week, I thought it was a great plan to depart Saturday evening to give myself time to pack and depart for the airport.
However, this past weekend I received notice from my RAs and University Housing that all students needed to be out of their residence halls (not including apartments) by 10 a.m. on March 9. Although slightly inconvenienced since I’ll have to carry my luggage around Talley for a couple of hours, I thought about what might happen to out-of-state or international students.
Even though I’m an American citizen, I’m technically an international student, since I graduated high school in the Middle East. For me, going home is not a realistic option due to the astronomical flight fees to travel across the world. Luckily, I have family in North Carolina, so this wasn’t a large problem for me.
However, University Housing is not very accommodating for out-of-state and international students during breaks due to the shutdown of residence halls.
With the break and notice that the halls were going to close, I was curious what would happen if someone didn’t have anywhere to go for spring break; if they were an out-of-state or international student and couldn’t afford to fly home for the break. Upon calling the main office, I found out that students have to pay an additional $200 to live in Avent Ferry in a room that isn’t theirs for a week.
I was taken aback by this because it seems that University Housing is taking advantage of students that have nowhere to go during spring break by taking their money. I tried to find information about what the woman had told me on their website, but could only find a 2014 article about housing accommodation during breaks.
The article outlined that it’s $32.50 per night to stay in Avent Ferry, and you have to request the room up to a week early. I understand there are safety and liability issues which is why students can’t live in their normal residence halls without RAs, but the need for students to pay extra is discomforting.
Spring break isn’t as simple as a two-hour car ride home to another North Carolina county for all students, and it can bear an immense financial burden on families that live further away from the East Coast.
Even for students that are from North Carolina, there can still be a financial burden to return home (e.g., paying for gas, train tickets or other means of transportation), so this University Housing rule has the ability to affect all students with varying levels of inconvenience.
University Housing should do more for non-N.C. students. Possible solutions include decreasing the cost to stay in Raleigh or increasing the length of time that residence halls are open at the beginning and end of the break. Simple solutions such as these are crucial to implement so that the housing needs of students are met during breaks. Housing at NC State must not be as difficult as it sometimes is, and these simple needs from students are not high-maintenance.
