I can still remember the excitement I felt about moving out of East Halls and into a downtown apartment. No more RAs, no more dorm food.

But three years later, I can't help but voice my disgust with the way realtors treat student tenants.

No, this isn't about the cramped bedrooms, slow to non-existent maintenance, and $90/month parking that causes students from other schools to look at me dazed and confused.

What really irks me is that my security deposit seems to be more of a spend account for routine repairs than an insurance policy to repair damages.

Take my experiences this past year for example. My roommates and I spent hundreds of dollars on a maid service to painstakingly clean our entire house using the manual we were provided by our realtor for guidance.

We also spent almost $600 to get our carpets cleaned so that we could provide the necessary receipts. And yet, we were still charged $375 for cleaning, and almost $1,000 for painting.

I write this to warn students to read your lease, to parents to keep these realtors as honest as possible, and to the Collegian to use its abilities as an investigative entity to look more into this.

I'm going to go out on a limb and assume I'm not the only one with these experiences. All I can hope is that after living off campus, current and future students don't come away feeling robbed.

Chris Musto

Class of 2009