University Daily Kansan / Tuesday, August 25, 1987
A N D
F E
9
S
Introduction to life at KU confusing yet wonderful
By JULIE McMAHON
A sense of wonder and a touch of confusion.
Staff writer
That's what Steve Jacobson felt his first week at the University of Kansas. Jacobson, a freshman from Morton Grove, III, a suburb of Chicago, is a brand-new member of Alpha Pi Fraternity, 1116 Indiana St.
They worked until 1 p.m.
For Jacobson, the confusion started early Tuesday. It was 7:05 a.m. and all he was sure of was that his pledge class had to go somewhere and do something. He looked around the house through eyes that weren't yet completely oen.
"I don't know where everybody he said." They just dragged me out.
Soon his pledge brothers were ready and everyone left in two cars. They drove until they realized they were lost. Finally, they arrived at the building on 15th Street where the University Daily Kansan is printed. When inside they learned that they, along with another fraternity, had to put coupon inserts into the Kansan. Somebody asked how long they were supposed to do this.
"We've got to do this for an hour?" until we drop," someone answered.
Jacobson says he is learning more about the University everyday. His new friends have made it easier.
"I love my pledge class — there's a lot of energy," he said. "They're totally cool. It's one big brotherhood."
His new friends also also made it easier to leave his home and family.
"My mom was a wreck. I was the last one to leave home," Jacobson said. But he likes the freedom of being away from home.
"I stayed out all night and didn't have to call home and tell anyone where I was. It's like being at summer camp and the actives are our counselors."
On Wednesday, Jacobson loaded up with information and advice from his fraternity house before going to pay his fees. He then headed for Hoch Auditorium, KUUID and checkbook in the basement, where he was still made aware of the building it was.
"I wish there was time to do everything," he said as he looked at the class schedule on the card. He would like to take art classes, theater classes and be on the Kansan, but activities will take up a lot of his time.
"They said it was the one across the street from Strong and to the right of Wescow," he said. Jacobson found Hoch and picked his card.
At the Kansas Union, where he went next, Jacobson picked up his fee card and then looked for signs to tell him where to go next. He saw the tables selling yearbooks and sports tickets, but he already had a
sports ticket and decided he could wait to buy a yearbook.
He found his way to the fifth floor. At the top of the stairs he gazed at the signs and moved tentatively into the ball room.
"I need to pick up a check," he said. He saw the financial aid problem line and went to it. After a 10-minute wait, he was directed to the Guaranteed Student Loan lines behind him.
Then Jacobson returned to his fraternity house to get ready for a party that night.
He didn't have to wait there. He picked up his check, endorsed it and wrote a check for the difference.
By 11 p.m., the Alpha Epsilon Pi house was wall-to-wall people. Three front rooms were packed and people had spilled out onto a front porch. Loud top-40 music blared from the room where Jacobson was.
He had a drink in his hand and four girls around him. As the night continued, he moved between the porch, a front room and the bar.
"This place is one big party," he said of the University.
He's more unure about what lies ahead in his classes, but his first day went well, he said. His English 101 class was canceled because of convocation and he was impressed with his biology teacher.
"He was real cool about it," Jacobson said. "He gave us a pep talk about being freshmen."
ands freshman gets involved
KU than most freshmen, it's because she had a head start. She and a friend flew into Kansas City International Airport in the wee hours of Aug. 10 and moved into interim housing at Joseph R. Pearson Hall later that day.
"My room is so small that when I first entered I called it a cardboard box," she said. "Now it's not so bad."
She spent five days making housing arrangements, opening a bank account and shopping before moving into a temporary housing room in McCollum on Aug. 15.
Arink said she wouldn't have chosen KU if she had not earned a one-year scholarship through the Institute's International Education in New York.
"I would have rather been on the East Coast because of the big cities and because I was born in Boston," she said. "But now that I'm here, I'm
If they call Kansas flat, I wonder what they call Holland?"
Lawrence is different from what she imagined, Arink said. "I expected it to be much more rural, with only land and big farms and not many people, and I also thought it would be flat. But the campus is hilly."
When she goes home next year, she'll probably have to start over as a freshman. She won't receive credit for her KU classes, because universities in the Netherlands tend to restrict students to an intense study of one subject.
Arink says she is most impressed with how friendly and helpful people on campus are — or were, until fee payment and registration began.
"Now it's more of a mess," she said. "People are still helpful, but I sometimes get the feeling, 'Oh, I have to line up everywhere!'"
Arink waited in several lines when she enrolled Thursday. First she had to wait for a bus to take her from Daisy Hill to Strong Hall. Then she waited 15 minutes in line outside the enrollment center.
She said she expected to enroll in Math 115. Dance 105, Communications 150, Sociology 104, English 101 and Mathematics 240, for a total of 17.5 credit hours.
section of English 101. But she had to substitute Economics 140 and another dance class, HPER 108. She had only 12.5 credit hours, barely enough to classify as a full-time student.
"I'm not that happy with English at 7:30 in the morning," Arink said.
"I'm asleep then. I thought I would have more credit hours, and I thought I would get more of my first choices."
She walked out of the room enrolled in the math and dance classes she wanted and a 7:30 a.m.
After waiting in more lines, she walked back into the enrollment center with two add cards and a class-owner card to get into Business 240. She walked out with a second computer printout, this time with 16.5 credit hours.
Arink's experiences at KU have been "just sort of a holiday until now," she said, "although it is less of a holiday now that classes have started."
Her first classes yesterday were mostly course introductions, except for a reading assignment she received in Business 240.
"Basically, my classes are just the same as they were in Holland, only in English," she said.
Fred Sadowaki/KANSAN
Officials warn first-time renters
reads in her off-campus apartment
By VALOREE ARMSTRONG Staff writer
Each year a new crop of first-time renters dives headfirst into rental leases without knowing what they're doing. Such uninformed decisions can lead to trouble, local housing and consumer affairs experts said.
Leases are legal contracts. Many problems arise between landlords and student tenants because students sign leases without understanding the responsibilities involved or their rights.
"Students are often the victims because they just don't know," said Arvilla Vickers, manager of the Lawrence Fair Housing Assistance Program. "Students aren't always the best tenants, but a person should be given the chance to prove he will be a good or bad tenant."
Cynthia Harris, a consumer services specialist at the Consumer Affairs Association, 819 Vermont St., said many first-time renters were afraid to complain about lease problems.
"Younger students are afraid to complain, because they're afraid they'll be put out," she said.
But leases bind landlords as much as tenants, she said. If a building doesn't meet minimum city codes, tenants should contact their landlord in writing immediately and keep a copy of the letter.
If a landlord refuses to act on possible building code violations, a tenant should notify the city housing inspector, who can order the landlord to fix problems, she said.
And student renters should know that they can't be thrown out for complaining without due process of law, she said.
Harris said she often saw illegal provisions in leases. Students should question leases that:
■ make tenants responsible for
repairs under $50.
■ allow landlords to enter for in-
nvestment at your time.
make tenants responsible for repairs under $50.
allow landlords to enter for in-
■ make tenants responsible for
- reserve the right for landlords to remove tenants and their belongings if tenants fail to pay rent.
landlords' legal fees in court proceedings.
"Another problem I see with students is that many landlords will only use one-year leases," Harris said.
That hurts students who are only in Lawrence from August through May. If they leave in May, they often must sublet the space themselves or face losing their deposit.
Mark Racunas, a leasing agent for Kaw Valley Management Inc., 901 Kentucky St. said his company offered 10-leases at a 10 percent higher price but still had to secure agreements to collect rent each summer.
And a Kansas law that went into effect July 1 could affect students
Rules and regulations
* Security deposit
Rental and utility payments
- Laundry and recreational facilities
with one-year leases.
The law makes leaving an apartment without paying rent in excess of $150 intent to defraud — a class E felony, which is punishable by up to five years in prison or a $5,000 fee or both. Harris said.
Gregg Stauffer, the association's
president, said he was concerned about the law's effect on tenants' rights.
Harris said she worried that landlords would use the law to threaten students.
State Rep. Jessie Branson, D-Lawrence, has asked Attorney General Bob Stephan to answer some questions about the law.
When dealing with leases, students also should remember that they have responsibilities as well as rights. Most importantly, they must pay rent on time, Harris said.
"Tenants have the attitude that landlords are getting rich off them," Harris said. "But most of them have mortgage payments, and if they are late, the landlords will be assessed late fees."
If students know they can't pay rent on time, they should contact the landlord in writing well before rent is due. This shows responsibility and a good-faith effort, Harris said.
Student renters also should
- get any promises from landlords in writing.
- Read the lease before reading
- have a fair housing official read
the lease before signing if they
have questions about it.
- complete an inventory of the premises, with their landlord, within five days of moving. That would document what was in the premises and its condition. If no inventory exists, tenants could be made to pay for damages they weren't responsible for.
- know the law and how it applies to them. The Consumer Affairs Association and the Fair Housing Assistance Program provide literature and advice.
- they are responsible for any person or animal and any damage on the premises.
- Student renters also should be aware that;
- many times they are responsible for putting utilities in their own names at the appropriate offices
- pay attention to deposit in place of a month's rent.
Budget helps ease money woes
By AMBER STENGER
Independently poor.
Examples of fixed expenses are
That's what many college students are. Even if they're supported by their parents, most students never seem to have enough money.
"Students have various ways of dealing with the fact that the money isn't what they want it to be," said Evy Gershon, assistant director of the financial aid office. "One way is to simply end until it's gone and, in a sense play poor for the rest of the month or semester."
"Once they establish what they are getting, then they need to determine what the fixed and flexible expenses are," Gershon said. "Fixed expenses are the expenses that are difficult to adjust."
But making a budget can help students use their money more efficiently, Gershon said. The first step toward building a budget is determining how much money a student receives each month, either from parents or from a job.
rent, utilities and car payments.
"Many times I have students come into my office and say, 'I can't afford to go to school.' After we talk, it comes down to 'My car and I can't afford to go to school.' "Gershon said.
More flexible expenses usually are based on the student's values. Students decide where they want to be, remaining income, Gershon said.
Making a budget is a lot easier than following one. One difficulty, Gershon said. is food.
Because students usually have little time to cook and a limited amount of money to spend, convection and cost often override nutrition.
"Usually, the more convenient a food is, the more expensive it tends to be. In microwave or prepared foods, you pay for the preparation," said Ann Kohl, registered dietitian at Watkins Hospital
But some less expensive foods are both nutritious and quick, Kohl said. Cheese, eggs, nuts and seeds are quick, inexpensive protein sources. She also suggested fruits
and vegetables because they are nutritious and need little orenation.
One way to save money is to buy groceries instead of going out to dinner.
"Students are often surprised by how much they spend on food and cokes and snacks that they buy on campus, which costs more than if they take it out of their refrigerator and haul it up the hill," Gershon said. "Students are sometimes shocked that they are spending from $15 to $20 a week on snacks on campus."
She also suggested buying generic brands and clipping coupons.
Even if students diligently follow a budget, they usually have little money left at the end of the month. In case students do run out of money at the end of the month, Gershon said they should buy food they won't eat right away to have reserves around.
Students can schedule individual budgeting sessions with advisers at the financial aid office.
Students really can rest insured
By MICHAEL MERSCHEL
A fire last spring at the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity might have started KU students worrying about the safety of their stores, popcorn poppers and furniture.
But most students in KU housing, fraternities, sororities and apartments can rest assured — or rather, insured.
"Probably close to 100 percent of those kids don't need to worry about insurance," said John McKinsey, an agent with Greg Winner Insurance, 2201 W. 25th St.
Although students can buy renter's insurance to cover their property, McKinsey said most students wouldn't benefit from such insurance because they already were covered by their parents' homeowners' insurance.
The only students who might not be covered are foreign students or married students, he said.
Students who find they aren't covered might have trouble finding an insurance company willing to sell to them because of the high risk of theft in areas with large concentrations of students, McKinsty said.
But, he said insurance probably wouldn't be worth buying for most
"Most kids still living in a dorm don't have $10,000 worth of stuff," McKinny said.
students. Most companies won't sell less than $10,000 of coverage, with at least $100 deductible.
The cost for that much coverage would be about $85 a year, he said.
But at least one insurance company offers a solution to that problem.
Students living in any form of housing can buy as little as $2,000 coverage with $100 deductible against theft or damage for $22 a year. Other deals range up to $160 a year for $10,000 worth of coverage with $25 deductible.
But even Cooper said that although her company offered students some advantages, students should check their parents' homeowners' policies before seeking other coverage.
Karen Cooper, manager of National Student Services, Inc. of Stillwater, Okla., said her company filled a gap left by the larger insurance companies.
Students seeking insurance information are told almost the same story no matter where they live: Whoever manages the building isn't able for much, and residents should check their
parents' policies.
Students living in fraternity and sorority houses usually are covered by their parents' policies, said Danny Kaiser, coordinator for Greek programs.
Fred McEihenic, director of residential programs, said students living in residence halls, scholarship halls, Stouffer Place, and Covenant College contracted their contracts that the University was not liable for loss of property.
McEllenie had he told the few students who asked about insurance to check their parents' homeowner's insurance policies first. Sometimes he refers them to local agents or to companies that offer special student insurance packages.
Students who live in apartments usually are responsible for anything that happens in their apartments, except for some plumbing problems, said Carola Woods. The students of Woods apartments, 130 W. 24th St.
Only about 20 to 30 tenants each year ask about insurance, and Burkhardt gives them the names of local agents who sell renter's insurance.