Arcadia University (the college I attend as well as the rest of the Loco Mag staff) is predominantly made up of in-state students from Pennsylvania (around 60% of students) or those within a reasonable drivable distance to the university (lots of those New Jerseyans). It is rare that you hear of anyone from Florida, Colorado, California, or in my case, Texas. Due to this minority of out-of-state students, Arcadia rarely considers these students’ needs in regard to various policies like move-in/out dates, breaks, and events.
Move-In/Out Dates
I think one of the most frustrating aspects for me as an out of state student at Arcadia is the move-in and move-out times, particularly for those living in Oak Summit Apartments. For the move-in window, there is a small time period of two days right before the start of the semester to move all your stuff into your apartment. This is already a stressful time with the beginning of the school year, but it is even more to deal with when you’re having to book a plane ticket with little wiggle room for when you can arrive at Arcadia; not to mention weekend flights are usually the most expensive, and if you were to get on a flight earlier during the week then you would have to pay extra money for a hotel room. After that decision, you are left figuring out how to get all your things from one state to another, then getting on a plane, traversing the airport with all your things (make sure no bags weigh over 50 pounds!), moving things up and down the steep stairs (oh, but first, you have to find a parking spot which is a challenge all on its own), then you’re spending time unpacking and settling in, only to start school on Monday.
I don’t think it’s hard for Arcadia to be more considerate of this. Honestly, it would be easier for all students to have the entire week prior to school starting to move in. This would also help the large influx of students that arrive all at the same time on Saturday before the start of the semester. I’m not sure of the reasons why this has never been implemented in the three times that I have moved into university housing. I’m just stating that if out-of-state students were able to give Arcadia their plane/arrival times or given greater mobility for move-in times then this experience would be a lot less stressful.
As for move-out times, usually students are given a period within 24 hours to vacate the premises after finishing their last final exam. This policy goes for both winter and summer break. It seems to me that moving out while also still dealing with finals can put a lot of stress upon students, and this is only exasperated by those who are hopping on plane rides home directly after finishing a final exam. This is less stressful than move-in for me though since it seems less hectic with students having around a week to leave.
Breaks
Yet another factor to this discussion is breaks—particularly fall, thanksgiving, and spring break. Sometimes, such as this past spring break of 2024, students were required to pay a $100 fee if they wished to stay the week. Not only is this a ridiculous policy, but it is also very inconsiderate of those who do not live in the surrounding area. If I hadn’t had a reason to go home to Texas for spring break (to babysit my two dogs while my parents were in Italy) then I would have either been forced to pay for a $400 plane ticket or this weird convenience fee of $100. Not only does this policy affect out of state students who may not have the money to spend on a plane ticket, but it affects other students too, such as those who lack a good home life, are lower income, or even students who do not have a car.
I was surprised by this policy as last year spring break was free, you just had to fill out a form requesting to stay. There was another year where if students wanted to stay over thanksgiving break, they were also charged a fee. If this fee to stay for breaks is not even a constant, how are students meant to plan for these times off if they only know less than a month ahead of time?
In the email sent out about spring break housing, there was also a list of exclusions for those who didn’t have to pay the fee including, “in-season athletes, international students, and students attending Preview or taking a GFS course” which shows that Arcadia is capable of considering some student groups. Yet those who were traveling from a distance of over three hundred miles, even though they were given the allowance to stay over break, still had to pay. And despite my leaving for the duration of spring break, the email said that everyone had to leave by 5pm on the Friday before. My plane—booked months ago without this knowledge—was leaving at 6pm on Saturday. I had to email the residence office to get this cleared up and thankfully, since I was not staying for more than 24 hours (this is not listed in the exceptions, mind you), I was not charged. But I still had to go through various steps to obtain my TOP SECRET clearance and be allowed to stay for a mere night (but don’t worry I was still locked out of the building that night since they forgot to keep my key card on, forcing me to call public safety to get in).
Events
This semester, one of the most frustrating factors has been the dates of thesis day and graduation. Thesis day, April 26th, is three weeks before the graduation ceremony, May 17th. This isn’t really a problem if you and your family live in the surrounding area, but for me and other out of state students, it is not realistic to have your family come to both events if you don’t want to pay exorbitant amounts for plane tickets. I was devastated when I thought that my parents were going to be unable to attend my thesis reading. I knew that it was inconsiderate of me to ask them to fly to PA in April, only to have to fly up again for graduation. Thankfully, my parents were able and willing to pay for both trips, knowing how important they both were to me. But I know that not all students are this fortunate.
And sadly, I don’t have a proposed solution for this problem. The first two weeks of May are filled with final exams for all students, meaning that having to present your thesis during this time would also be stressful. Another option would be during the week of graduation, but by then all non-graduating students have left. I’m not sure what other universities do in this instance and if they also have the same problem. I just know that students should not have to choose whether their family is there to support their college graduation or the months of hard work they spent on their thesis project.
In conclusion, I think there are a lot of things (even more not mentioned here) that Arcadia has not considered when it comes to their out-of-state students. I hope if anyone from the university sees this that they would be open to some of these changes. And of course, if they want an even bigger list of complaints then my inbox is always open for inquiries.
Featured Image by Sydney Howse
