<p>I took pictures of stuff that was broken when my oldest moved into his room freshman year, it was still broken at the end of the year, but they didn’t charge him. I was a little worried, because his roommate who was a slob (not that my son was any better except that he didn’t cook unlike his roommate) was going to be staying several more days. Their dorm room was a 1 bedroom apartment and the roommate had made a total mess of the kitchen. In any event he was never charged for anything.</p>
<p>My younger son had the RA check out the room. She just did a quick visual, but I haven’t seen any charges.</p>
<p>I think the OP got off relatively lightly - I’ve certainly heard of much larger charges for damages to the common areas. But at $1, it can’t have been much more than rug cleaning which surely ought to be part of the regular university upkeep.</p>