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Old 04-22-2008, 03:13 PM
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Nelphus Nelphus is offline
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Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 481
Quote:
Originally Posted by MMPig View Post
AUC Housing is ridiculous! Get a housing anywhere but the AUC dorm!

I lived at the dorm from January to April, 2008, and I will never want to go back. Internet, water and electricity was out periodically, especially worse during exam period when everyone is studying day-and-night at their room. Now, you can imagine not being able to take a bath or get some water to drink or surf on the net for some ValueMD fun when you are exhausted from studying in a room that is constantly >25 degrees Celsius. Plus, there was problem with the plumbing: water leaking from the ceiling, from the air conditioner and from your toilet. The room was dusty with food crumbs everywhere, and it was pest infested.

When you finally get to move out, you have to get some maintainence guys to come in to check your room to make sure it is clean before you move out, but be aware that these maintanence people are not here to make sure your room is clean but to make sure they get paid extra $$$. When I moved out, the maintenance guy came into the room, looked at my room for 1 minute and instantly said, "it's not clean" while my room was even cleaner than when I moved in. My room actually looked like this before I checked out:







The point is: the maintanence guys check your room, tell you it is not clean, then tell you that you can pay them $50 to "clean" your room, then they will mark it clean only if you pay them (well, I dun think they do much after they were paid, given that it was so filthy when I moved in). Otherwise, if you don't have their people "clea n" it for you, your deposit will be withheld ($100 cleaning fees + several hours of cleaning for $25/hour).

In summary, DON'T LIVE AT THE AUC DORM!!! If you are coming in May and already paid your deposit, make sure you find a nice apartment to move to in your first 2 weeks. You will get all your money back (including your deposit and rent).
I think I'm willing to endure cleanliness problems and possible housing deposit withdrawl for the various benefits of living in the dorms mentioned previously in this forum.
My main reasons for going on campus is to take advantage of the extra convenience of being close to class and anatomy lab, having the opportunity to meet more people and become acquainted to the island and campus for the first term, lack of worrying about AC use and/or water bills....
From what I've read on this forum, the problems with water and internet outages are not exclusive to the AUC dorms, but more of a function of SXM. If you have found amazing off-campus housing that is reasonable for utilities, reliability and in a safe area within reasonable travel distance to campus, than please post it in the forums and I would be happy to check it out when I arrive on the island for possible entrance in 2nd term.
Thanks for your input
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