Weber State's Housing Hassle By David Barton A most critical problem facing the college student is where he will live. After all, it does tend to get rather cool in the winter around here and besides, cars are so uncomfortable to try to sleep in. Choices available to Weber students consist of: renting an apartment or house in the Ogden vicinity, buying a mobile home and finding a trailer park in the area, living in one of the WSC dormitories, or commuting back and forth to home, which borders on insanity when your home is in San Francisco. Renting in Ogden is an experience. If you are married you should have no trouble. Local landlords like young marrieds, especially if the young marrieds have lots of money to pay for the rent. It is possible to live in Ogden without lots of money but that takes lots of skill. There are many inexpensive apartments and houses in the area, the problem is finding them. If you are single you had better be a chick or have short hair, be clean cut, and it wouldn't hurt to be a returned missionary. But, again, these are not necessary requirements to rent in Ogden. Just get a short hair wig and shave and make sure you have lots of cash with you when you meet the landlord. Once the student has made the decision to rent he must then find the suitable abode to spend all his hard-earned and, of course, extremely scarce currency on. There are several agencies, offices and other housing oriented services in the immediate Ogden area that can help the student find the rental unit he is looking for. Of the many available services, perhaps the first on the list should be the Weber State Housing office. They can help you in the selection of a dormitory room or possibly, the com Choices available: renting an apartment or house, buying a home, purchasing a mobile home, living in the dormitories or commuting from outside of Ogden. pany of five other students in a dormitory apartment. The campus does not have any married housing yet, but the personnel at the Housing Office can assist married students in their search for housing. The Housing office can also help unmarried students with a partial listing for rental units in the area. The Ogden Housing Authority, part of the Ogden City complex, has listings of rentals but they specify families only. Some realtors in the area have listings for houses that are for rent but, for the most part, the realtors wish to sell houses. So buy one if you wish. There is an agency in Ogden which specializes in the business of rent-a-home. The prospective renter gives the agency a nominal fee along with a description of what type of dwelling, location, price and other such variables and the agency will make an appointment with the landlord. Another, and perhaps more reliable source of housing information, is the Ogden Standard Examiner Classified Ads. The listings are always current and usually complete. Last, and only as a last resort, there is the "drive-your-VW-around-until-you-spot-a-for-rent-sign" process. Guaran-teed good for a few laughs, but only a very few. There have been a few claims of discrimination leveled by some of the disgruntled freaks on campus. In answer to that, the truth can be found by letting your hair and beard grow and then attempting to rent an apartment or house. Once you try, the answer will probably become very clear. The classic example of whether the local landlords practice discrimination is typified when the average long hair inquires at an apartment house which has a sign in front reading, "Apartment for Rent" and, in the time it takes to walk to the manager's apartment, the apartment has been rented to the invisible man. Buying a mobile home is easy enough, but not all students have the spare change to buy a mobile home. Mobile home estate owners are usually preoccupied with just squeezing your money out of you, but some take the time to hassle prospective tenant about how to groom himself, which inevitably looks a lot like the owner. Then there are the dorms. Dorm life is also an experience. All things considered though, the cost of living in the dormitories is very reasonable. The dormitories are comfortable, practical and close to the college. Living in the dorms allows students to live, work, and study together in an atmosphere that is beneficial to their college education. Dorm students often maintain grade point averages above the other students. Dorm life offers many social benefits also. There are a number of exchanges and dormitory stomps for the dorm residents each year. The functions of the college are also available to dorm residents because of the closeness of the dorms to the campus. There are two types of residence halls at Weber. For the independent type, there are two apartment halls, LaSal and Stansbury Halls. These halls are for women students only. Wasatch Hall and Promontory Tower are the two dormitories which have board and room accomodations, for six women in each apartment. They share kitchen-living and storage facilities in these apartments. Each hall has a large main living room, laundry facilities, sewing machines, recreation room, and centrally located mailboxes. Neat, huh? Each apartment is equipped with an electric range and refrigerator, table and chairs, and each student has a bed with an inner spring mattress, chest of drawers, clothes closet, desk, chair, drapes and study lamp. Students must furnish their own pillow, bed linens, blankets, irons and all other personal effects in all the residence halls. All cooking utensils, dishes and silverware, and small appliances must be furnished by the residents in Stansbury and LaSal Halls. Wasatch Hall and Promontory Tower are equipped with double rooms that have beds, linens and study facilities for each student. Each floor has a television room for use by the residents, and the hall has laundry rooms, ironing boards, and vending machines. A large cafeteria in Promontory Tower serves the students of both Wasatch Hall and the high rise Promontory Tower. A choice can be made between two meal schedules. Twenty meals per week may be purchased for $275 per quarter and 15 meals per week may be purchased for $265 per quarter. Weber State College requires all single freshman students who are not living at home to live at the residence halls. If the student is over 21 years old, he is not held to this policy. This policy also requires the residents of the halls to sign a year's contract and the students must carry at least 10 credit hours to remain eligible for dorm residency. Pets, gambling, alcohol, drugs, and explosives or firearms are all no-nos as far as the Director of Housing is concerned. The Housing Policy has come under fire this year from students who feel, perhaps rightly so, that the college has no right to tell the freshmen or any student where he can or can't live. But like so many other policies on this campus, there seems to be the fishy odor of profit-making at the student's expense. However, we all know that good, ol' WSC wouldn't try to take the students at their own expense. Right? So, as you can see, the best thing to do is to commute to Weber, even if you do live in San Francisco. housinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousinghousing