Students unhappy over early withdrawal fee

By Sarah  Yannetta

Kerri Reid, a first year Esthetics and Spa Management student, enters Residence Building D, where she lives. Photo by Taylor Renkema

Students at Loyalist College have been complaining about not getting all of their money back after leaving on-campus residence early for placements or internships.

Students in residence are required to pay a $500 early withdrawal fee. Some students say that’s unfair when they need to leave early for placement or internship in order to graduate.

Taylor Wood is in his third and final year of his program and he explained that when he spoke to residence staff during his second year about leaving early for placement, they said he had to pay the $500 withdrawal fee.

“That money could have been used towards other expenses,” said Wood. “I understand a fee for students who wish to leave for non-school related issues, but I feel that students who are going off on internships for school should be exempt.”

Residence Manager Chris Carson, said in an interview, that it’s in the contract that a student leaving residence early for any reason will have to pay the withdrawal fee.

Another third year student, Jonathan Carter, said that it’s frustrating because he still has to pay the withdrawal fee. He feels he isn’t getting straight answers from the staff.

“I have gone in and spoken about how I don’t understand the rules and they seem to not really answer my question,” said Carter. “They kind of just state a bunch of random facts and then they kind of just smile at me and then I don’t really know what to do so I leave. I feel like they’re not saying something to me.”

Carson said students should read the contract.

“They can leave whenever they want, we haven’t changed the contract at all and it’s for them,” he said. “Before they move in they know what the contract consists of and what it is, is that if a student moves out before the end of the school year there’s a $500 withdrawal fee, but the student only pays for the time that they’ve stayed.”

Students say they find the contract confusing. Carter said he couldn’t find information about his situation anywhere in the contract or residence handbook.

The contract states in bold, “If a student voluntarily withdraws from the college, he or she will be charged a $500 withdrawal fee.” Carter and Wood believe that clause doesn’t apply to them because they’re not withdrawing from the college or their program, and only from residence.

Bill Walsh, vice-president of enrolment management and student services, said he understands why students are frustrated and that the contract could be worded differently to eliminate that confusion, but it wouldn’t change their situation.

On the idea of creating lease options for students with placements or internships, Walsh said the student residence council could look into creating contracts to fit more common placement gaps, but the college still needs the funds to pay the bills, so a student with a seven-month lease would be paying the same amount of money overall in seven months that a student with an eight-month lease would be paying.