After living in this new town with new people for only about two months’ time, much of the student body here on the University of Wisconsin campus has begun to feel the pressures of finding a place to live next year. They’re being bombarded with flyers and propaganda screaming that the race is on to select a home for the coming academic year.
It was possible to sign a lease as early as mid-October this year. Mid-October. Why? Why are we being pushed to find a place to live 11 months in advance? It’s understandable to want to get a head start in the search for living accommodations for the coming year, but the fact that the campus property owners propose we have to sign our leases “before it’s too late” in October is absolutely ridiculous.
Personally, it was just around the time I was finally getting accommodated to my current quarters when the emails and postcards started filling my inboxes proclaiming I would miss my chance if I waited too long. Just as I was getting used to living in the dorms, it began to feel as though I was already getting evicted, and apparently if I didn’t find a place soon I would be spending my sophomore year of college living on the streets.
Although I’m only a freshman and still quite new to this whole thing, I was suspicious of these claims that mid-October is the time to sign leases, so I started asking around. I did not think I was ready to sign a binding contract with people I had only met a couple of months ago. Luckily enough for me, according to the upperclassmen I questioned, I would still easily be able to find a place to live, and most likely a cheaper one at that, even if I didn’t rush into signing a lease.
So great, this whole ordeal seems like a financial scheme to work a few extra bucks out of the already stereotypically poor student body here on campus. It’s Econ 101 – increase the demand, lower the supply and voilà, profits go through the roof. Well played campus property owners, well played. The flyers and propaganda make it seem like the supply of living accommodations are running thin and therefore cause the demand to skyrocket. Economics 101.
Here we are, a bunch of kids trying to better ourselves through a quality and rather expensive education, and there are business owners trying to make it just a little harder for us. I’m not saying it’s a bad idea to start looking at future housing options early, but there is no need to rush into signing a lease with people we’ve known for only two months.
Phillip Michaelson (pmichaelson
