As the school year is dwindling down so are college students rent payments. YAY! Soon people will be packing everything up and getting ready for summer or leaving for good after graduating. People like me.
In a pervious post, you have seen that housing in Morgantown is an issue, but with housing comes payments and a lease that is almost impossible to get out of.
In Morgantown, most leases are 12-months long and not much wiggle room for those who only need a place for a short period of time. From the Domain, Metro, and Beech View they all do not allow any short leases.
The Domain was the only one who mentioned having a short lease but they are sold out for next year. Confused? Me too. The Domain only allows 12-15 spots of short leases and the rest have to be at least a year long.
The Domain is a little more reasonable and a lot more amenities for a place but the location is so far from campus. Though they have a bus for transportation some like to walk or drive as little as possible to class.
Beech View will not allow you to have a 6-month lease, and instead offers 10-month lease at the lowest. Their prices are a little outrageous as well compared to the other apartment complexes, especially if you want to live alone. Single bedroom apartments range from $900 to $1,175, and three bedroom apartments are about $725. Beech View officially opened in 2013, and was only 30 percent full when it first opened, according to the Daily Athenaeum.
What about the kids that graduate in December? Do most get stuck paying rent and not living somewhere?
Those that have a 12-month lease, like me, are supposed to be out of their houses by May 8th even though graduation is on the 13th. How is this fair? Shouldn’t landlords make sure they at least make it until graduation?
I am sure other people are trying to figure this out as well. Some may be making the choice of just staying and hoping nothing happens until they are actually out. When those choices are made many more issues come into play such as having to pay fines or go to court.
If you are having issues with graduation or your lease I’d like to hear about it. Find me on Twitter or leave a comment below.
Morgantown Matters 
Wow, I didn’t realize some people can be basically homeless for a few weeks because of graduating. I’m having the opposite problem. My lease goes for two months after graduation, and I won’t be here. But I have to pay for it and can’t get out of it. I think it’s stupid, but a contract is a contract. Love your custom pins on the map by the way!
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I had to do the same thing when I left for the summer. I think it is ridiculous and a scam. There isn’t much you can do about it but I feel like that should be time for the landlords or whatever to be cleaning up the place. I just find it so frustrating because they take advantage of the college students and their money. Thanks I figured it would help with seeing that closer areas have higher prices to the University compared to the Domain.
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I am in the exact same situation. I live in an apartment complex called Wubbie It is located right downtown, connected to the Panera Bread. I have lived here for three years and love it, but sadly my lease ends on the 9th. I am just moving all of my stuff out, and going to crash at friends houses until graduation. I wish landlords took graduation into consideration, because how bad could it be to let me stay an extra five days or so.
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I think everyone in Morgantown should read this post, and they would all agree! It’s no fun leaving for the summer and having to pay rent for those three months while you’re not even living there. Also, I know many people who have studied abroad, or are only staying for half a year and they struggle to find a place to live for just one semester. They usually get stuck paying for a place for an entire year even though they’re only there for 3-4 months. It’s a really weird system. And, all of those big apartment complexes like Copper Beach or the Domain or Beech View are all super expensive. The majority of us are “poor college students.” We shouldn’t have to pay an arm and a leg just to live near our campus. Great article, Emily! Definitely makes us think about the unfair system we’re forced to work with.
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I totally agree with both of you. I don’t see how it is allowed for landlords or “resident” living to not let you only live there for a few months. I think that if anything the minimum should be maybe 3 months but that is sometimes pushing it.
Preston, thats what I was going to have to do but thankfully my dad took off and can come up early now. That just sucks cause then your family can’t come and just hangout they have to stay at the hotel or something all day.
Kristen, thank you I didn’t realize how much of an issue this was until it was happening to me. I couldn’t agree more with you that we shouldn’t have to pay the prices we have to pay to begin with. Especially seeing some of the shape these houses are in, its crazy.
I’d love for you guys to pass this along if you want so I can see more feedback. Thank you.
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This is an issue I wasn’t aware of! Like Ashley, my apartment will be empty for almost three months while I pay rent for it to be unoccupied. Something else that bothers me about Morgantown housing is if you have a lease starting in August, many places make you move out in the middle of July, but you still have to pay for the entire month. It’s crazy to consider all of the ways they use to get money out of us students, and the sad thing is we really have no other option but to go along with it. Great post! The only thing I can think of that could have added value to the post was to hear from more students about their situations, because I know there’s an unlimited number of students out there willing to complain about their leases.
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This is so important!! In a lot of larger cities, landlords offer month-to-month leases. I think places in Morgantown should do that so students who graduate aren’t left with all their stuff and no place to go. This is a good article and it’s a problem in Morgantown that definitely needs talked about!
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I had to do a story on student living for JRL 215 and I found it so backwards that everything is geared towards students and student living but yet there was no accommodation from any building when it came to short term leases, graduation, and summer situations. I live at Metro and I have to pay a good chunk of money to get out of my lease early and it’s money I don’t have so I have to stay. I think that if these companies don’t want to accommodate for some of the special circumstances that students run into then they shouldn’t market themselves as student housing complexes.
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Sierra but that once again wouldn’t be fair for you to have to pay more money than you already are just to get out of the lease.
Kaitlyn I would have gotten more students but this wasn’t my original idea it was a little more of spur of the moment but if I had more time I definitely would have.
Thank you everyone for commenting it is clearly showing how much it is effecting us students and something should be done to accommodated for us students, considering that is what this town is based off of.
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I’m really glad you brought this topic up! Leasing an apartment in Morgantown is such a complicated matter, especially for graduating seniors. I am currently dealing with this same issue, as my lease ends on June 10th and will be moving into a friends apartment until graduation. Month to month leases would help alleviate problems for students like me, and also help students who graduate in the winter. Landlords think they fill more space by locking everyone into a 12 month leases, but they really just create a messy culture of subleasing. Students would be more motivated to sign where they have flexibility at the end of the day.
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First of all I think it’s really cool how you found little WV’s for your map, I love that!! Also yes leases are definitely a part of the larger-picture housing issue here in Morgantown. I know of one, ONE, place in Morgantown that is a pay-per-month apartment, and it is a terrifying little place. Bigger cities have this option, and I think that Morgantown should as well given that most students aren’t here May – May or August – August. They leave during the summer. We need to adjust accordingly! Good story
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