In his commerce and enterprise class, Bishop Don Nielson, instructor at BYU-Hawaii and local owner of the Laie Palms Cinemas, said to his students, “Students, and especially those in my ward, ask me, ‘Bishop Nielsen, can I store my stuff in your garage?’ and I have to say, ‘No, sorry, four other students are already storing their stuff in my garage.’”
He then asked them whether or not a storage facility on the North Shore would be something they would like to see. General comments made by his students were regarding how there is a demand for a local storage business or even a storage facility run on campus, and how such a place would be helpful to students who have no one to hold their stuff over summer.
No Real Options
With all but three hales closing this summer for maintenance and consolidation, students said they are having to consider their options. Emi Wainright, a junior from Florida studying psychology, said having a storage facility on or close to campus would be better than the alternatives she and other students face now. “I think having somewhere to store my stuff would be a huge blessing and burden lifted off my shoulders, as well as the friends I beg to hold onto my stuff all summer.”
Besides asking friends to store her stuff, she said her only other options right now are to sell her stuff on local Facebook pages, or to take as much as she can back with her to Florida. “If I could rent out a small storage unit, I wouldn’t have to worry about the hassle of taking all my stuff home with me or having to sell it all only to buy everything again when I come back to school in the fall.”
Michele Crowley, a junior from California majoring in graphic design, said she thinks the underlying issues here are there are no true alternatives for students like herself who aim to graduate but who are pressured into staying for the summer months in order to keep their rooms. “I’ve been becoming more accustomed to life here on campus, but it’s been hard. Now I find out that because I’m not staying for summer, my space in Hale 10 can be given to another student. I already bought my plane ticket and now have nowhere to store my things if I have to move out. I feel stuck.”
The Costs of Leaving
The rate for purchasing a Summer Break contract for 2018 is $879. However, students are supposed to be living in the dorms and not just storing their stuff. Crowley said, “$879 is a huge amount I’ll have to deal with on top of saving for Fall Semester. Normally it might be around $130 to $150 to rent a storage unit for the summer, but since there’s nothing like that here besides our rooms, I have to pay multiple times that.”
When asked what she’ll do if she can’t book a room, she said, “It won’t be easy for me to find a place to store my things. The fact that the closest self-storage is in Kaneohe is insane. I don’t have any friends who are staying for summer who can hold my stuff. I finally have everything I need, including my kitchen supplies, and now I’m going to have to sell most of it because I just have no way to pack it all up and move it.
“Thinking about moving out again is really adding to my anxiety. How am I going to manage moving out around finals week? I feel like I can’t fully concentrate this semester because of this.”
Writer: Shannon Crowley