<p>my son went to johnson and wales in charlotte. we have had nothing but problems, now to find out that after his freshman year, they do not provide housing!! They seem to find no problem with this, however I have no idea where the money to pay for an apartment would come from! They gave us no notice of this, I had no idea my son could not stay in the dorms for the entire time he was there, therefore having it paid for my student loans etc. they do not disburse money until november/december at times, and a landlord won't wait for that. Has this ever happened to anybody else? I am furious with this institution.</p>
<p>It happens at a number of schools. If you look at some of the college directories, there is a section that tells you if a college guarantees 4 years of housing. And even if they do, it does not mean it is of the calibre, price and location that you may have in mind. Several very good schools do not provide housing for upperclassmen--BC guarantees for 3 out of 4 years, and let me tell you finding housing in Boston is an expensive endeavor. Hopkins only has enough housing for 2 years; there is a lottery for upper classmen. Actually more schools do NOT provide 4 years of housing than do. But some schools with a large commuter population or in an area where cheap housing is easily available do not find it an issue.</p>
<p>As for having the money to pay for the rent through December, you and your son are going to have to plan that out over the summer. The school will wait for its tuition money until certain loans dole it out. The landlord will not. So your son needs to have enough money to get through December stashed away from summer earnings. If his share of the rent and expenses is $600 per month, then he needs to have $3000 stockpiled for it. That means a summer of work. Double shifts. Bussing tables. Working 60-80 hours a week and not spending it for fun. No time off. Then when the loan money comes in, he can stash some of that for the following year so he can have a breather for the subsequent summers. When I went to college on a full financial aid/scholarship deal, I worked all the time to make ends meet. And subsequently I worked more. We do not want our kids to have to go through this, but sometimes it is necessary, and, frankly, I am sad about some of the attitudes I have fostered in some of my children who are taking the college expenses for granted. My older ones did not because we did not have the money, but the younger ones feel it is owed to them, an attitude H and I created, thinking that it would make life better for them. I am not so sure. There will come a point where they will have to be self sufficient and I am not so sure we are doing such a good job that way. Working too hard is not a excuse young people should have, except in rare occaisions.</p>
<p>Good luck in working it out. If you plan ahead, you will have one particularly rough year when you and S got caught by surprise, but once you have it under control, it won't be as bad, and it will be an experience that your son might really benefit from.</p>
<p>What a bummer, A. Sounds like you've had a rotten year and another tough bit is on the way. Jamimom has some good ideas. Another idea is to have your son find out when he can apply to be a resident advisor in the dorm. He would get free room and partial board with that job--and it doesn't take much time. (I did it).</p>
<p>Here's hoping the second semester and the second year are much MUCH better.</p>
<p>My S is in off-campus housing, and we do use students loans to pay for it. The loan comes to the school, and the school sends the surplus back to us a few months later -- we got it in October. So we "loaned" him enough money to get through a few months, and we'll get it back from him after the winter disbursement of the loan.</p>