With the end of the academic year in sight, your student probably feels relieved that the semester is almost over and excited for their summer break. Whether your student is living on-campus or off-campus, the end of the semester and moving out can be stressful especially with finals looming.
Consider these tips to help alleviate tension and stress for both of you as the semester draws to a close:
- Encourage your student to start cleaning and organizing their living space as early as possible. If your student lives in a residence hall, charges may be applied to their student account if rooms are not properly cleaned. If they live in an apartment, please note that many apartment complexes withhold deposits if the apartment is not clean or if there are any damages.
- If your student is returning home for a weekend visit between now and the end of the semester, encourage them to pack anything they will not need for the last weeks of classes and bring it home. Remind them to think about items like bikes or seasonal clothing that they no longer need this semester or that are harder to move with apacked vehicle.
- If your student has any maintenance concerns in their room or apartment—from damaged screens to ripped fabric on furniture, lights or outlets not working, etc., they will need to submit maintenance requests now, rather than letting problems go until the end of the semester. Between finals and wrapping up the semester, students will have little time to deal with filing maintenance requests.
- Make sure to know your student’s living arrangements for next year. Are they living on campus or renting an apartment? Will they have roommates, and if so, how many? Who? How to contact them over the summer? How will the bills be divided/paid for?
- If your student is planning on living on campus, confirm that they have completed their Housing Contract, room selection, paid their deposits, etc.
- As your student moves out of their residence hall or apartment for the summer, where are they going to store their stuff? Are they planning on bringing it all home? If you are considering renting a storage unit or truck, rent them earlier rather than later to avoid dwindling availability around Fayetteville.
- Talk to your student about donating old/unwanted items. University Housing partners with local charities to receive donated items from residence halls at closing. Habitat for Humanity and Big Brothers/Big Sisters will provide clearly-marked containers for your student to drop off any clothing and household items. Donations of used furniture are also accepted. For information regarding drop-off locations for furniture, encourage your student to contact the CRE in their residence hall.
Residence halls close at 2:00 pm on Saturday, May 11. Your student will have a meeting in their residence hall to cover all checkout procedures and other important updates: including when to sign up for a checkout time, move-out parking protocol, and quiet hours for finals week. Encourage your student to attend this meeting to ensure they have the most up-to-date information.
For questions concerning on-campus housing, contact University Housing at (479) 575-3951 or via e-mail at housing@uark.edu.