Fabian Grund
fgrund@uwyo.edu
I am a study abroad student from Germany and I came here with the intention of staying one semester. That being said, I decided to stay in the dorms since there was only a short time window from the end of my semester in Germany to the new semester here. I wouldn’t have had time to find a privately owned room or apartment.
During this semester I decided that I want to extend my stay here. But since the dorms and the included meal plan are expensive, I can’t afford staying another semester. When I went in to check out I was told that if I return next semester, I would not be able to stay here due to my financial resources. After requesting a release from a contract that was signed with the intention of staying for one semester, it was dismissed and I got forced to live in the dorms.
The very fact that students are struggling with their budget makes it, for me, even harder to understand why Residence Life charges as much as they do. They charge you for a small room that you share with another person. Shouldn’t Residence Life try to support students in trying to help them live affordably?
Since every freshman has to go through the dorms for their first year, Residence Life essentially has a monopoly.
The Washakie Dining Center is overpriced and the hours are pretty inconvenient. Dining starting from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. simply doesn’t match the schedule of a college student. Why can’t they open it longer and satisfy the needs of their well paying customer? Shouldn’t the customer be their focus?
In addition to the inconvenience of times, the poor and mediocre food tastes the same after a while. Washakie is not supporting a student’s physical and mental health. There are no healthy choices at the dining center. Burgers, fries and other greasy foods shouldn’t be a daily option in a country that clearly has to fight obesity. The only thing that this food does is to cause heartburn and increase depression.
One last thing that I cannot understand is this: why do people have to get a pretty pricy parking permit and the parking lot doesn’t even get cleared from the snow. Countless times you see people falling down around the dorm buildings on icy sidewalks that didn’t get cleared.
I understand that a contract is a contract and Residence Life gets their money from me. Because of this I can have the full American college life experience and live in debt. But I won’t recommend living in the dorms at all to study abroad students who come from my university. More so, I will rather help them to find a better and cheaper place to live.
