Student seek break housing

Sophomore international student Aimi Ahmad-Shukri spent last Christmas in an unfurnished house without a phone, television or adequate heating. It wasn't that Ahmad-Shukri and her fellow Malaysian classmates, who shared the house with her, didn't have a better place to stay. They just weren't allowed in.

Like all dorm residents, international students like Ahmad-Shukri are forced to vacate the residence halls over winter break.

For many local students, closing the dorms is not a big deal. But some international students don't have any easy options.

"All of us came together in the fall," Ahmad-Shukri said of herself and the other Malaysian students who shared the house. "We didn't want to get separated. We knew a few families in the Seattle area, but I'm sure they couldn't have taken us at the same time."

Ahmad-Shukri and her friends decided to look for an apartment, but found it difficult to find anyone who would rent to them for only two weeks. They had to settle for anything they could, furnished or not. Since they didn't have a car, they did all their moving on the bus.

"(When we were) moving back to the dorms, it was snowing," said Ahmad-Shukri, an engineering student. "We had a million [things] to carry on the bus, and it was snowing outside."

This year, Ahmad-Shukri has decided it's just easier to go home for the holidays.

"Rather than having an awful time here, my mom said it's okay for her to pay for the ticket," said Ahmad-Shukri.

Traveling home for international students can be quite expensive. Kate Wood, a junior from England, said her flight cost $900. If the dorms weren't going to be closed, Wood said she would have stayed in Seattle.

"If you haven't got those kind of resources to throw around, you're stuck," said Wood. "There should be some kind of program put forward by [Housing and Food Services] saying, 'These are your options.'"

But the UW stays out of the fray, as do many schools. An informal survey of 13 Washington colleges found only four that would definitely give students the option to stay over winter break.

According to Vennie Gore, associate director for Housing and Food Services, until 1999 the UW offered students the option of staying in the dorms over winter break for a fee, but lack of demand prompted the University to eliminate that option. Gore explained that students weren't willing to pay the costs for maintaining the necessary staff, such as RAs and security.

But given the tight spots some students find themselves in, some might be willing to shell out the extra money.

"A few people are scrambling to organize trips to New York and Canada, but they're finding hotel prices quite expensive," said Wood. "They're winging it."

The Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS), a non-profit campus organization that reaches out to international students, has found itself taking up the slack in recent years. It's the organization international students turn to in the scramble for housing during winter break.

Katie Testin, the office manager for FIUTS, said she has received about eight e-mails from students this quarter, as well as having two advisers send students to FIUTS to get help with finding a place to stay.

According to Testin, even though students learn about the residence hall policies when they get to the UW, the information can get lost in the shuffle.

"They're bombarded by all the details, and it's hard to make that one little chunk stand out," said Testin. "It's not of immediate importance so it gets pushed aside."

Sabrina Moss, manager of student programs for FIUTS, agreed.

"You have such immediate concerns -- what's happening in December is not on the radar screen at all," said Moss.

At the same time, students are gearing up for finals. According to Moss, the pressure is particularly acute for international students because many are here on government scholarships and student visas, which they could lose if they don't keep up their grades.

"While they have received the information [about the dorm closure dates] ... our students are so intent on finishing their exams and doing well," said Testin. "They're more stressed out than American students. ... They have to focus on their exams first."

Gore said international students have the option of living in Stevens Court or Nordheim Court, where they can get 12-month housing contracts.

"I don't see them going for that, and they have to do all the paperwork, and that scares them," said Moss, who said many international students have the perception that the United States is a "litigious society," fearing the possible pitfalls of contractual agreements.

Moss said international students would rather live in the dorms, anyway.

"They get a real good insight into American culture," said Moss.

But some of those insights are not so positive.

"It seems like they take your money but don't help solve your problems," sophomore Peter Lin said of the housing office. Lin, a sophomore from Taiwan who no longer lives on campus, summed up his residence hall experience as "small room, bad food and having to move out every break."

Such bitterness may be born out of an expectation among students that a university serving people from another country should be a better host.

"I was just staggered there was nothing, no definite program," said Wood.

For some, better communication could make all the difference.

"We understand as administrators the University's decision, but there could be more effort to say to the students, 'Here's what we're working on,'" said Moss. "Or an explanation on why [the dorms are] closed. There's no explanation of why [they're] closed, and students need to hear that."

But for students, it's ultimately about having a roof over their heads.

"When I first arrived, I was hoping they would have ... temporary housing," said Ahmad-Shukri. "But that's not the case. ... They don't think about people who don't have relatives here."