By Shannon Higgins
Even if you’re from British Columbia and have nowhere to put your stuff after your last exam — you still have to pay an extra $25 a day to stay in residence until it closes on April 29th, said Glen Weppler, manager of student housing services.
While on-campus housing will remain open until the end of the undergraduate term, students unable to move out before the night of their last exam will be charged unless approved by student housing services.
Weppler is in charge of the International Living and Learning Centre (ILLC) and Pitman Hall. He says the only way a student can stay in residence is if they are still writing exams. The night after you write your last one, you’re out.
“They could disrupt other students,” he said, adding that the goal is to create a quiet environment for those still studying for exams.
But Missy Hummel, a first-year criminal justice student with six exams this semester, thinks Weppler’s missing one major detail.
“I’ve gotta get up, pack, go to my exam and leave. (I) don’t even get a chance to say goodbye to (my) friends,” she said.
Like Hummel, many students have back-to-back exams and feel that precious study time shouldn’t suffer just to make time for moving out. “We pay a fortune to live here in the first place,” said Hummel.
Weppler said it was important for students to move out on time so operations go smoothly when conference services change the ILLC and Pitman Hall into public hotels for the summer. All profit from the hotels goes directly back to Ryerson. “We have rooms to turn-over so we can generate revenue,” said Weppler.
For students who want to keep their rooms over the summer, they will have to fill out the mandatory paperwork after control of Pitman Hall and the ILLC is transferred to Conference Services May 1st.
Any university student who wants to live at Ryerson during the summer can apply to conference services for short-term summer accommodation. With a valid student I.D. rooms are available until late August. The daily rate is $26 at the ILLC and $24 at Pitman Hall.
Louisa Capetola from conference services is in charge of the transformation from residence to hotel. For the last four years, Capetola’s job has been to promote Ryerson’s hotel facilities and coordinate the services provided. As a member of Tourism Toronto, Capetola tries to “put Ryerson on the map” and hires hospitality and tourism students for the summer.
In only one week, Capetola needs to whip all 807 rooms into tip-top shape.
“The rooms are cleaned, repaired and the carpets are shampooed,” she said. Capetola said Ryerson’s central location is ideal for large Toronto conferences and school groups. Many clients will be returning from last year and bookings for the gay pride parade are already pouring in, she said. Room prices range from $58 to $98, cheaper than the average downtown hotel. During this period the Pitman cafeteria is closed and food services are provided mainly through the ILLC.
By August 26th both residences are supposed to be empty and ready for new students on move-in day. But the cost of living on-campus in fall 2007 is not clear.
Student housing and ancillary services are in no hurry to announce changes or even fees for next year. Director of ancillary services, John Corallo, said he won’t have any information about how food services will operate next year until May or June.
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