I am writing this column homeless, confused, angry and annoyed.
The Standard at Baton Rouge is a luxury student apartment complex steps away from campus. Students were attracted to the close proximity to campus, the rooftop pool and the numerous other amenities — all useless if you don’t have a bed to sleep in.
I’m sure many of the people anxiously waiting to move into The Standard, myself included, heard about the fiasco with The Exchange at Baton Rouge prior to signing their lease and thought to themselves, “That would never happen to me.”
The Exchange, an apartment complex near campus, planned for students to move into the brand-new complex in fall 2014, but move-in dates were postponed, and students were placed in hotels.
Instead of the situation being a learning lesson for signing a lease for an unbuilt apartment, many of us ignored it and are now stuck in a complicated contract. You never realize what you’ve gotten yourself into until everything goes left.
The first thing many of us look to do when something goes wrong is place blame. The Standard management has been anything but helpful throughout the process — making false promises, not returning calls and everything in between.
We were placed in hotels miles from campus, a concession which defeats the purpose of living at The Standard because it is walking distance to class.
Most of this is management’s fault, but I can’t help but put some of the blame on myself. Instead of dancing around the leasing office and taking pictures of signing my first lease, I should’ve read what I was getting into.
After The Standard delayed the “red carpet” move-in day for the second time, many students like myself looked for a way out of the lease. If all the students would’ve read what they were signing thoroughly, we would’ve found a small clause stating as long as The Standard provides housing, they have 30 days to move us into the actual property before we have the ability to freely break the lease.
This should be reason enough to read every line of everything we sign because it’s not hard to end up in an unwanted situation — this occurrence isn’t all that rare.
We need to stop putting faith into something solely based on it’s popularity. When signing the lease at The Standard, I didn’t consider reading the contract thoroughly because so many people had already signed before me.
Aside from student living, it’s possible for your popular university to create
confusing terms and conditions.
The Guardian reporter Rebecca Smithers argues college students are being forced to accept unfair, and many times unlawful, changes to their schedules
because of certain terms universities have in their contracts.
According to the same report, lawyers believe 31 percent of universities “used wording deemed to be bad practice and likely to be unlawful.”
This is our everyday lives.
When I go shopping and consider purchasing something on final sale, you can bet I’m trying it on a second time, making sure I am love with it and doing a complete examination to make sure I am not buying a faulty product. I do this because as soon as I initial the receipt “making clear I understand it is a final sale,” there are no take backs.
Whether it’s a college apartment lease or the terms and conditions on iTunes, take all the time you need to read what you’re about to sign your name to.
Clarke Perkins is a 19-year-old political science sophomore from New Orleans. You can reach her on Twitter @ClarkePerkins.

Gallery • 5 Photos

Nicholas Martino

Cars maneuver past the potholes and construction cones near The Standard on Sunday Aug. 23, 2015, on Aster St.