Campus, News

Summer storage poses difficulties for BU students

With the Spring 2013 semester drawing to a close, several Boston University students said they would like for BU officials to offer more advice and direction on options for storing possessions during the summer.

Mohamed Alghanami, a College of Engineering freshman from Bahrain, said it would be beneficial if BU officials provided students with basic information on summer storage companies and prices.

“If we could just get more information regarding storage, especially for freshmen, that would be great,” said Alghanami.

Alghanami said summer storage is necessary for students who cannot transport all of their belongings to distant homes between the spring and fall semesters.

“Especially because I’m an international student, it’s not really feasible to take all of my stuff all the way back home,” he said.

BU Housing Director Nishmin Kashyap said the summer holiday poses a much greater challenge than the fall, winter and spring holidays do for students and space.

“During regular breaks — Thanksgiving, winter and spring — students do not have to remove belongings from their rooms,” she said via email. “However, at the end of the academic year, students have to move out.”

Kashyap said BU does not endorse any vendors, and that the school neither encourages nor discourages summer storage.

“Students research online for vendors and contract with them individually,” Kashyap said. “It is a personal choice that students have to make.”

Mandy Evers, student services manager at the UPS Store at 1085 Commonwealth Ave., one company that offers students summer storage, said it is common for students to store all types of items.

“Students are storing clothes, storing stuff that they’re not going to need for the summer when they’re at home,” Evers said. “It really depends on the student in deciding what they want to bring home with them and what they want to leave here for the next term.”

Evers said the average student using UPS Summer Storage spends about $180.

“I live in an apartment off-campus, so that’s where I’m keeping all of my stuff for the summer,” said Jeffrey Hintz, a College of Arts and Sciences junior.

Hintz said he noticed many companies have been advertising themselves around the Charles River Campus by handing out fliers, putting ads under students’ doors and writing information on the sidewalk with chalk.

“Some people have a lot of stuff so they can’t bring it home, and the school should probably help them out a bit more,” he said.

Lindsay Chan, a CAS freshman from Philadelphia, said summer storage is valuable to students.

“[Summer storage] helps anyone who lives farther away from Boston than a day’s car ride, or for anyone who has to fly because obviously they can’t bring their bulkier items with them,” she said.

She said although she will not be storing any items, she believes storing possessions during the summer ultimately saves money for students.

“It’s also good because they [students] don’t have to get rid of anything they can’t carry and be forced to buy it all new next semester,” she said. “I wish they [BU] had a page with all our options for summer storage on the housing website.”

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