As the end of semester draws near, finals inch their way closer. And so does the added stress of moving out.
The current housing policy requires that students living in university owned housing, with the exception of graduating seniors and those participating in graduation, be checked out by 6 p.m. on the Thursday of finals week.
The last final ends Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.
By requiring students to check out immediately after the last final, students, especially those who have a final on the last day, have to choose between studying and packing up their belongings throughout the days before.
The university provides a study day prior to the first final of spring semester. To me, this day, in which there are no classes, signifies the university's desire to have students succeed on their finals. But the success is compromised immediately because students have to make sure that their belongings are ready to go in addition to working towards their goal of doing well on finals.
But if the forced selection between studying and packing is not enough to warrant a change in the policy, perhaps the burden that the policy places on parents is.
Not all students have a car on campus, and even if they do, their parents still might need come to campus to help them move out. My friend certainly can't fit her mini fridge into a Chevy Cobalt.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics 2012 averages, 82 percent of single job holders work during the week as opposed to 31 percent who worked on the weekends. The Bureau of Labor Statistics also maps out what percentage of employed people work at what time. The map shows that 80 percent or more of all employed persons were working between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.
These statistics show that if a student needs his or her parents' help moving out and they live more than three hours from campus, the parents will have to miss work to get their child moved out by DePauw's deadline.
A lot of DePauw students are from cities more than three hours away: Fort Wayne, Ind., Chicago (or the surrounding suburbs) or St. Louis. Each of these locations is between three and four hours from DePauw.
Parents from these areas would not arrive at DePauw until somewhere between 6 p.m. and 7 p.m. Without leaving work early, parents couldn't make it to DePauw in time for the mandatory check out, let alone have time to actually move their kids.
Let's assume the parents leave work early and drive the three plus hours to move their child out by DePauw's deadline. Since move-out day is a Thursday, the parents would then have to drive home and go to work the next day. That's at least six hours in the car in one day. I'm tired after three hours in the car. The last thing I want to do the day after moving out is go to work. I'd wager most parents feel the same.
True, students can apply for an extension until 9 a.m. the next day, which would be great except the next day is Friday, and that's also a work day.
Instead, the mandatory check-out day should be a Saturday. Since no finals are on Friday spring semester, students would no longer have to choose between studying and packing. Since the check out day would be on a weekend, parents would no longer have to choose between helping their child move out and working. Everyone paying the $51,340 to attend DePauw ($54,025 next year) wins.
-DeCriscio is a sophomore philosophy major from Fort Wayne, Ind.
