Room fines adding up

Jerry Zurek

Every year Cabrini College issues room fines to resident students. These fines are due based on the damage they have done to the campus, in particular, their place of residence.

Over the winter break, my roommates and I were issued a fine to be paid by the time we returned in January. On the bill, it was not stated what it was for or why it was being issued during winter break instead of at the end of the year, like it had been in the past.

We later found out that the damage fine was for a stain on our carpet. The money we would be forced to pay would go towards replacing that part of the carpet at the end of the year. This stain, approximately one foot in diameter, was the result of one clumsy roommate knocking over another’s art project. She never tended to the damage and therefore all four roommates were deemed equally responsible for this $140 mess.

At the end of the 2004-2005 school year, the week before finals, there were posters hung all throughout House 2 explaining what the damage fines would be per person, assuming that no more damages appeared. It was posted that the cost per person would be $34 and some odd change due to all the false fire alarms, excessive trash and holes in the wall.

When the bill finally arrived home at the end of May, it was stated that along with the damages for our room, the fine that each individual person would have to pay had increased to a whopping $46.39.

This “common area damage fee” had increased around 30 percent over the course of about two weeks when stu-dents were actually living on campus.

Approximately an additional $850 in damage was done within what is supposed to be the quietest week of the semester when only the most intense studying is done. So why did it end up costing us so much more in the end?

Holes in the walls, writing on doors, bug and rodent problems were all issues that occurred within the last two weeks of school. Is this stuff you want to pay for, especially over your summer vacation? Me either. But, between the common area damage fee and my individual room fee, my roommates and I all ended up paying $130 per person. Talk about putting a damper on my beach time.