University Park residents are calling attention to discrepancies between housing contracts and charges to their accounts. The residents said Residence Life is refunding only the few students who caught and protested the issue.
The UP Efficiency Apartment housing is listed for $3,900 per semester.
Brooke Benson, senior communication disorders major from Midland, said the initial contract she received via email listed the rate at $3,850 – but the charge to her account was $3,900.
“They did increase the price a little bit over the year,” Benson said, “but there is still a $50 difference from the price that I was assigned and the price I signed for.”
Benson emailed ResLife highlighting the difference. She said ResLife dismissed her concerns, saying she agreed to the charge when she signed the contract.
“It kind of felt like gaslighting,” Benson said.
A friend of Benson’s, Brylie Mahar, also noticed the price difference from the contract. Mahar, a graduate student of Speech-Language Pathology from Savor, said when she realized, she reached out to ResLife via phone call and email.
After Mahar emailed ResLife, she said the reply had that familiar dismissing tone.
“They eventually got back with me, and they were saying that that’s just kind of how it is and that they weren’t gonna change it,” Mahar said.
Mahar said she sent a few more emails, restating the issue, but they weren’t budging.
“That’s when I went to Shannon Kaczmarek,” Mahar said, “basically telling her that I’m going straight to her now because no one was answering the phone, and it was taking a long time to get a response on email.”
Mahar said she felt heard by Shannon Kaczmarek, the Dean of Community Living and Wellness.
“Shannon was the only one who took me seriously, immediately listened to my concerns, found a solution and solved it within the day,” Mahar said.
Benson didn’t receive the brushoff ‘it’s-in-the-contract’ email from ResLife until after Mahar’s issue was resolved.
“They were really blunt,” Benson said, “and not even taking it seriously.”
Benson stayed strong; she said she emailed them restating that there was still a $50 difference and added that Mahar had the same issue resolved.
“And like 10 minutes later, I got an email back saying like, ‘Oh we’re so sorry about that! We changed it,’” Benson said.
The charge on her account was fixed to match the price in her contract but only after her long series of emails.
Mahar said she knows other students who picked up on the issue but are hesitant to fight for it.
“There’s some people that are just accepting that they’re paying more than what their contract signed rather than just fight the difference,” Mahar said.
While navigating resident-reported disconnects, ongoing email exchanges and the move-in process, ResLife is also in the midst of searching for a new director for UP.
“The old UP director stepped down from her position at the beginning of the summer, I believe,” Mahar said. “They hired a new woman… and she ended up quitting the day of move-in.” *Note: Mahar said she could not confirm the exact timeline of when the woman stepped down, but she overheard that it may have been the day of move-in.
Kaczmarek released information in an email on the stepping down of the new director of UP, Phebe Dowels, and asked for thoughts and prayers for her. According to Kaczmarek’s email: “Bellande Bertrand, our director of residence life will be stepping in to help with UP until we hire and train Phebe’s replacement.”
