<p>Long story short, I forgot to cancel my housing contract when I withdrew from the university. They now want to charge me a good deal of money for housing for a period during which I was on the other end of the country. Is there anything I can do to dispute this or am I pretty much stuck?</p>
<p>While I’m not 100% sure (or even 80% sure…basically, don’t go only off of what I say) I’d say you’re stuck. Housing contracts are binding, and it’s up to you to cancel it. If, say, they hadn’t canceled it after you withdraw, then they’d be at fault, but it’s very unlikely that saying “I forgot to do X” ever carries weight in the real world. So, offhand, that’s my guess. However, seeing as how you actually withdrew from the school (and terminated THAT contract)…it’s a gray area.</p>
<p>Definitely call the school and talk to them, and be willing to talk to some higher authorities who KNOW what they’re talking about (because a lot of times, the first people you talk to will be as knowledgeable about this as I am :P). Good luck!</p>
<p>UCSC’s housing makes it fairly black and white clear that you must cancel your contract if you do not want to be charged when you are not living there. They send out a lot of reminders about this.</p>
<p>Take Leesamurmur’s advice, but make sure you’re calling the housing office and getting up as high as you can there. Calling, for example, the admissions office is not going to do you any good at the moment. But as far as I can tell looking at my own contract, you have a fairly slim chance of getting them to agree to excusing a violation you made of the contract you signed. They’re fairly clear on the deadlines:</p>
<p>[UC</a> Santa Cruz - Student Housing Services - Housing Notes](<a href=“http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/housingnotes/index.html]UC”>http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/housingnotes/index.html)</p>
<p>Your best bet will be to throw yourself on their mercy with the proof you withdrew while acknowledging you made a huge mistake in not following through with canceling your contract as well. Then all you can do is hope for the best.</p>