As students prepare to move out of their residence halls next month, they should be wary of extra fees they could incur for an untidy room.
All rooms need to be left in “broom-clean” condition before moving out, Seth Weinshel, director of GW Housing Programs, said in an e-mail to students, a condition he called an “industry standard in residential facilities management.”
Rooms will be inspected two to three days after residents leave, and any fees associated with damage to the room, missing room keys and missing cable boxes or remotes will be placed on the resident’s student account.
Complying with “broom-clean” means removing all personal items, emptying both the refrigerator and freezer, returning all assigned furniture and properly disposing of trash.
Students do not need to worry about vacuuming floors, but they should submit a FIXit request for any current damage to the room.
“The University recognizes most students already comply with the ‘broom-clean’ standard but wants to encourage those who do not to follow the lead of peers and leave the room in an acceptable condition,” said University spokeswoman Michelle Sherrard.
There are a number of rooms each year that are left in conditions that require a substantial effort to return to a livable order, she said. The added maintenance complicates the University’s efforts to prepare residence halls for summer housing.
Students who do not comply with this year’s standards will be charged $250 per student for additional cleaning, $90 for a missing or damaged cable television box, $80 for a missing or unreturned room key and $10 for a missing or damaged remote.
Sherrard hopes the new fees will encourage students to leave their rooms in conditions that do not require a large amount of cleaning by the University.
“The goal of the ‘broom-clean’ fee is not to raise revenues, but hopefully, to stress to students the importance of simply leaving their residence hall room in the same condition it was when they arrived,” said Sherrard.
Although move-out is a joint venture between Housing and the Division of Operations, the “broom-clean” fee is administered through the Division of Operations.
The fifth annual Green Move-Out, a University initiative to make the move-out process more environmentally friendly, will be placing donation boxes in residence halls. They will collect unwanted items, including clothing, unopened canned goods and pantry items, small appliances, mirrors, dinnerware, cleaning supplies and various types of bedding. All donations will be brought to non-profit organizations in the D.C. area.
