I’m going to speculate that the OP’s urban area is New Orleans, and the festival in question is Mardi Gras. If that’s the case, I think it’s easy to understand how:
(a) The university has a strong interest in holding the line on banning guests, because it could easily be swamped, there could be all sorts of issues of assaults on guests or guests abandoned by their hosts, there could be lots of unhappiness between roommates, and perhaps worst of all they could lose control over the dorms completely because of an inability to tell the difference between guests and strangers looking for a place to crash. If I were the university, I might be very sympathetic to the OP’s plight, but I would completely stonewall him or her. It’s a hard lesson, but if they don’t really hold the line it might be very hard to stave off chaos.
(b) There is no practical alternative for visitors without a lot of money. Maybe the OP could use a university message board – online, or cork-and-mortar – to find his or her friend a place to crash during the visit. But I bet those are hard to come by, too.
@JHS I completely agree with you about it being in the University’s best interest to uphold this policy, I’m still going to try though @Hanna After reading about Southwest’s flexibility, I’ll definitely strongly consider booking with them from now on. Thanks for the tip!
The airline may give some credit, after a change fee, so call the airline.
But I think that if you meet with the right person, there is still a chance.
I don’t think you have to be confrontative when asking where the info can be found. Just ask sincerely, that you would like to know for the future where these policies are. That will have the same effect of them having to find it and show you.
Good luck, hope you can have a good talk with someone who is reasonable.
@compmom believe me, I have checked, they do not provide any kind of refunds for the class of ticket I bought, with the exception of a 24 hour grace period which has passed. Thank you for the well wishes, I hope they are reasonable too
I was not suggesting that your roommate sneak her in. I was actually wondering how your roommate would feel about having a third person in the room for several days.
I’m guessing this is referring to Ultra which is an EDM festival in Miami. I could see that a university would be worried about tons of guests that weekend. It’s likely the school was planning to notify closer to the date. I’m sympathetic to your situation, but I can see the school not making an exception which could open the floodgates.
You certainly seem to have a case, but may not ‘win’ regardless. Definitely present your situation at the meeting. You might also consider going to the school newspaper about the situation and let the person you speak with know that you will be doing so in the hopes of ‘improving’ communication about policy in the future.
Agree w/ others re: Plan B though. You said you don’t have friends who live off campus (you’re only a freshman I believe) but surely there’s someone who has an off-campus apartment who wouldn’t mind making a few bucks letting your friend sleep on the couch for a night? Is there a FB group or some such place where you could post a “Couch Wanted” message? Obviously, you’d want to vet the situation - but if could work out…
Good luck - and let us know how it ends up. I admire your approach and second (or third) the suggestion you consider law school!
I do not think that the university is going to budge on this issue. Please do not personalize a policy that is not personal.
It is not unusual for a university to restrict overnight guest who are not students of the university during big weekends at attract a lot of people outside of the college community.
I will bet $$ that the response to you will be the same to any other student.
Keep in mind that they have to responsibility to ensure the safety of all of their students. It is not a matter of your room mate being ok with it. While you know your friend, she is virtually a stranger to everyone else living in the dorms. If something were to happen to one of the students in the dorm by an unauthorized visitor, that would be a huge liability for the college. While I am empathetic to you and your situation, the school is not going to set a precedent by allowing your friend to stay in the dorm.
Remember, if the shoe was on the other foot, what would you want the college’s response to be if a stranger were living in your/your child’s space?
@sybbie719
As I have said, many times now in multiple responses to other generous posters, I know my chances of success are not great. But I am still going to try, it is worth the few hundred dollars I have potentially wasted to meet with someone for fifteen minutes, and attempt to get an exemption.
Again as I have said in multiple posts, I completely understand the University’s policy and the reasons behind it. The issue for me is not the policy itself, but the lack of announcement from the administration. If I would have been notified in a timely manner and therefore not made plans in the first place, this would not be an issue.
You say that it is not a matter of my roommate’s opinions, and I agree. Their opinions do not inform or change University policy. When I posted about my roommate’s willingness to host a guest, it was only because another poster had asked.
“I’m going to speculate that the OP’s urban area is New Orleans, and the festival in question is Mardi Gras”
FWIW, my D goes to a school in New Orleans, and they have an established guest policy for MG which allows guests for a price–a price whch is a mere fraction of the cost of lodging anywhere else. As I understand it they use that money to hire extra security. Now, my kid is a freshman, so I haven’t seen yet how this plays out in practice, but I am guessing they are experts in managing MG and everything thta goes with it. So it CAN be managed. Maybe the OP could suggest such to the administration. Hey, it can be seen perhaps as a fundraising oportunity. Maybe it is, at my kid’s school–if so, good for them
Also, Mardi Gras, this year and almost always, is in February, not March
@floridak111 - If you can’t find other accommodations for the festival, and you can’t have your guest stay with you at the college for that weekend, why not skip the festival and get out of town – go somewhere else (by bus or other cheap transport) where you can find reasonably-priced accommodations, and just enjoy a long weekend with your friend. (Surely there are other attractions in your state…)
@Midwestmomofboys - the March event is apparently an annual event, and this policy is apparently a standing policy, so no the school might not make a specific announcement of it this early, but they should have it written down in their policy manual, rooming contract, or other such document.
@floridak111 The “ramifications” I mentioned were … can they kick you out of your housing for violating the policy?
I know being a freshman can be somewhat intimidating at times, but when I was in college (back in the days before social media was even a thought) during football weekends when hotel rooms were scarce we would just stand up before class and say “Hey, does anyone have a couch for a friend of mine this weekend?” A lot of off-campus folks would love to make a few bucks this way.
OP, you can try to change the ticket to some time in the future (for a change fee). Some airlines allow open ended tickets which would leave it available for any time usage.
Delta would be a tough sell to get a credit or change on this ticket class OP used. I looked, it’s a tough one. She might try to call and ask.
But maybe OP does need to look for accommodations in the next town.
