With summer break two short weeks away, the thousands of students living in the University of Wisconsin residence halls have just two things left to worry about — passing all their finals and moving out of the dorms.
The busiest move-out days will be May 14, 15 and 16, according to UW Associate Director of University Housing Michael Kinderman.
Kinderman said the best advice for moving out is just to be patient, adding it can go a long way in making a student’s move out experience easier.
Kinderman said the biggest problem he anticipated with move-out this year is the traffic near the Southeast dorms. He added with activities like commencement ceremonies, students moving out and regular traffic, it can get backed up on the streets surrounding those dorms.
Kinderman said University Housing encourages students to be moved out 24 hours after their last exam.
All students must be out of the residence halls by Saturday, May 15 at 9:00 p.m. unless they are graduating or working for University Housing.
Kinderman encouraged students to try to move out some of their things the weekend before exams start. This makes moving out after exams are done much faster and smoother for everyone.
Starting last year, University Housing asked parents if they were willing and had the time to come up early to move things out . Kinderman said a lot of parents thought it was a great idea and that they did not realize they could come up early.
“We had a lot of nice comments about it,” Kinderman said. “You would think that people would know that they could do that, but unless you tell people, interestingly enough, it spurs people to think more about it.”
Information on where move-out parking is available at each dorm is available on University Housing’s website.
Another concern for students is avoiding being charged for violations after they have moved out.
The best way to avoid a fine is to put all of your furniture back in place, clean the room thoroughly, empty your trash and defrost your refrigerator, according to the University Housing “Move Out Guide.?
For students who do not want to throw away their belongings but do not have room to take them home, the university is setting up donation sites near the dorms, according to the University Housing website.
The donation drop-off spots are at Sellery, Witte and Smith halls. There will also be spots at Tripp Circle and Cole Beach.
Dumpsters will also be available to students near all of the residence halls.
UW-Junior Michael Hickey said he remembers everyone throwing out the same cheap metal futon they had bought at the beginning of the year in a giant dumpster outside of Sullivan Hall.
He added it was strange being in his dorm room the last night of the year because all of his stuff was packed away.
“Everything I owned was inside this giant red bucket in the middle of the room,” Hickey said. “I didn’t even have any sheets on my bed because they were already packed away.”
