It's unfortunate that this is the only choice for on-campus housing at UMSL other than dorms. My daughter lived there for two years. From the beginning, it was just an extremely frustrating experience. The contract is a joke. The place could quite literally burn to the ground, and contractually you still have to pay rent while they have no obligation to provide alternative accommodations. I would never have signed the contract given any other viable choice. On move-in day year 1, which was limited to no more than 3 days before classes started, the deadbolt lock froze up. The maintenance man busted lock through the door frame to get us in, then left with no way to secure the apartment. Said he'd be back the next day to fix it. Next day? No way I was leaving my daughter with no way to lock her door. Had to buy a temporary rekeyable lock to key to the original keys and piece the frame back together so she and her roommate wouldn't be left unprotected. It ended up being 3 months before they finally came back to fix the frame and replace the lock, then had the nerve to say we shouldn't have done any repairs ourselves. Spiders were a problem, so my daughter was constantly spraying peppermint spray, which spiders don't like, to keep the spiders at bay.
One of the panes in her double-pane bedroom window was broken before move-in. It was the summer between years 1 & 2 before that got fixed. They charge monthly rent for the furniture, which was supposed to be all new at move-in. Not only was everything not new, there was no couch or chair in the living room. After several complaints and at least 2 months, they finally got the chair, but no couch. After more calls and requiring a partial refund on the furniture rent, they finally got a used couch that had only one useable sitting spot. We were eventually told the couch, which had supposedly been on back order, wasn't coming and it would be the next year before it was replaced. I about lost it.
My daughter was adamant about not living in the dorm, so against my better judgment, we signed up for a second year. Big surprise, when my daughter checked with her roommate, who had stayed the summer, there was still no new couch three days before move-in year 2. After an angry call, they finally delivered the new couch. The furniture "rent", which started at $50/month and increased to $55/month year 2, would buy everything in that apartment over the course of 2 years, especially considering they get that x2 when there are roommates. Two or three last things that were ridiculous were that move-in is mid-month, but they charge a full month and still limit you to moving in the weekend before classes start. Same thing with move-out. It's mid-month, full month's rent and have to be out the weekend after classes end, and they only have someone in the office until 1:00pm on move-out weekend making it about impossible to demand an inspection and return of security deposit before turning in keys. Lastly, before writing this, and what triggered me again, was calling about the security deposit refund. I was told it takes them 60-90 days to issue the refunds, and they send them snail-mail. Given their history, I can almost guarantee that won't happen without a nasty call or visit. I'm sure there were other frustrations, but I think that proves my point. Good luck, if you can't find any other option. read more