When you imagine going to college, you hope that you like your classes, you make friends, and your roommate has at least a vague idea of what’s “normal.” And that’s all you really should be worrying about, right? Especially when you cringe at how much money you’re spending to be there 😉 . The last thing on your mind should be the quality, or lack thereof, of the dorm rooms. Until now. When this freshman at George Washington University showed up on his first day of college and surveyed his new “room” for the year, he got the shock of his life, and literally paid for it. Keep reading and you’ll know why…
In the Fall of 2010, this GW student showed up to his double occupancy room, only to find four beds strewn about. He and his THREE roommates put in work orders to at least bunk them, but it never really happened. This was only a sign of the horrible conditions to come. “They are horrible with work orders. It took them weeks to fix things, but most were just ignored. The mold was a huge problem. [There was] everything from faulty piping, dirty water, missing/broken furniture, missing floor tiles, broken lights, broken windows etc.”
![In the Fall of 2010, this GW student showed up to his double occupancy room, only to find four beds strewn about. He and his THREE roommates put in work orders to at least bunk them, but it never really happened. This was only a sign of the horrible conditions to come. "They are horrible with work orders. It took them weeks to fix things, but most were just ignored. The mold was a huge problem. [There was] everything from faulty piping, dirty water, missing/broken furniture, missing floor tiles, broken lights, broken windows etc."](/wp-content/uploads/2014/images/full/64168a5409a5faecfdb08a616f94ae81a4e6e767.jpg)
Later, after extensive complaints were filed, the beds were bunked, but immediately taken down when they moved around so much they almost fell on the sleeping roommate underneath several times. Making matters worse, as a Freshman, it’s MANDATORY that you live on-campus in one of these dorms. All at a price of $8000 a semester. And while this technically included food to live on, many students literally starved. “When I entered, I was 175 lbs at 6 feet. When I left, I was 125 lbs. I relied on the meal plan and tried not to spend more money than the money I was already spending on that. J-street (the food court) closed around 6pm and then all weekend. There were a few sandwich places like Subway, Potbellys, Starbucks and some delis. There was also CVS and 7-11 which I went to routinely. There was a Trader Joe’s and I think Safeway (they didn’t accept the Colonial cash), but they were a couple miles away (no car), and I didn’t exactly have a kitchen to cook in. There was also a lack of space in the room to actually keep food. I was the minority, most people just spent the extra thousands of dollars to go to sit down restaurants, sports bars, and such.”
From the $8000 total, “[w]e had to pay a mandatory $1,800 a semester [for food and] we didn’t even have a dinning hall. We had a food court with Wendy’s, Chic fil A, Pizza Hut Express, and a couple other vendors where we had to spend $800. Then we got $1,000 “Colonial Cash,” which could be used at nearby vendors like CVS. Most vendors though jacked up their prices or only accepted it on select items. I ended up purchasing Visa gift cards from CVS with mine so I wasn’t so limited. The whole area though was very expensive and most vendors were only open during business hours since DC is a huge commuter city. I lost over 50 lbs that year from malnutrition.”
![From the $8000 total, "[w]e had to pay a mandatory $1,800 a semester [for food and] we didn't even have a dinning hall. We had a food court with Wendy's, Chic fil A, Pizza Hut Express, and a couple other vendors where we had to spend $800. Then we got $1,000 "Colonial Cash," which could be used at nearby vendors like CVS. Most vendors though jacked up their prices or only accepted it on select items. I ended up purchasing Visa gift cards from CVS with mine so I wasn't so limited. The whole area though was very expensive and most vendors were only open during business hours since DC is a huge commuter city. I lost over 50 lbs that year from malnutrition."](/wp-content/uploads/2014/images/full/5622e621cfcfa4701efc0f4898bb80b76599fcd3.jpg)
Luckily, this student transferred right after he finished his first year at GW. However, it’s a sad truth that somewhere right now is a soon-to-be freshman terribly excited about going to college for the first time, with no idea about what’s about to be in store for them in this nightmare dorm room. Source: Imgur via Reddit
