<p>My daughter lost the housing lottery and ended up in the Low Rise buildings this year. The building/room was in very bad repair. At the beginning of the year she did her best to mark the damage on her check in sheet but there was a lot of it and she does not remember if she got it all properly documented. It was so bad that her key did not work and she could not close the door because the wood frame was bent.</p>
<p>It's clear to see that the dorm is in rough shape. Now she is ready to check out and is worried that she will be charged for damage that was already there in her room and that repairs will not be made to the room after being charged because of the state of the dorm when she moved in. It's maddening to think she will be charged to live in a place like that while some lived in brand new dorms and no charges will accrue. Any suggestions would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Make sure she does a proper type of checkout - this usually includes either a room check by an RA or the filling out of some form and dropping off her keys (she should have received the information), and she will retain the right to appeal charges for room damage. she could also try doing the checkout type where the RA does a room inspection, and she can make note of what was there in the fall. Also, it may be late for this now, but if there are broken things that could be repaired (such as broken window shades, etc), there is the campus facilities maintenance request forms - [Campus</a> Life Facilities Maintenance Request](<a href=“http://tma.campuslife.cornell.edu/request.html]Campus”>http://tma.campuslife.cornell.edu/request.html) - I’ve had them repair burned out ceiling lamps, and replace a window shade when the string broke, and was not charged.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! Does the maintenance have to be done prior to checkout if it is arranged ahead of time? She is checking out tomorrow at 10:00 am and it is mainly problems with her door that she is worried about. It didn’t even shut or lock when she moved in! She has a final this afternoon and could contact them after that. </p>
<p>She contacted an RA she knows better than her own that is going to do her checkout and inspection and the RA suggested either maintenance repair or that she would mark the damage on her sheet. Everything else, while pretty banged up from being an old dorm in disrepair should be okay. The dorm could seriously use an overhaul and we really don’t want to pay for it because it was like that in the fall.</p>
<p>Several years ago, D was at a summer program and was in one of the U-Halls (reference for old-time alums!!). The dorm was slated for destruction after the summer program, but they did the inspections anyway – this is a buerocracy, isn’t it!!!</p>
<p>To the point – I don’t think that Cornell is any more or less stringent than other universities on dorm inspections, normal wear and tear, etc. At least I haven’t read many complaining threads here.</p>
<p>In the future, it is probably a good idea to take few pictures in the beginning, and then again at move out.</p>
<p>Thanks! Good advice for the future. Here’s to next year in a new dorm!!</p>
<p>Even if your daughter wasn’t that diligent about the room sheet at the beginning, I believe all the RAs have records of their inspections. My understanding is that your daughter’s sheet is meant for anything the RAs might have missed (which they likely didn’t). You don’t get charged for normal wear and tear so I doubt she’ll have a problem.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info! The RA was helpful and very nice at checkout. She did not think there would be a charge.</p>