BYU Housing

Can I rant some more? Brigham Young University beauracracy has to consist of some of the stupidist people ever to walk this earth. I just applied for a job at the Huntsman Cancer Institute, and I'm sure the zebra fish I might work with there have far more intelligence than the BYU Housing Office staff collectively.

Anyone who knows anything about economics realizes that BYU students have bent over and taken it up the rear for years now because BYU has a housing policy that requires places of residence to be approved. BYU students cannot live in non-BYU-approved housing. That makes you inelligible and unable to take classes (if they find out...the under-the-table housing issue is far greater than they care to believe).

First of all, our friendly economists know that when housing needs to be approved, that squeezes the number of potential houses students can live in. Decreased supply, with steadily increasing demand, causes rent to skyrocket and incentive for owners to maintain their property to drop. Hence the average BYU student pays about $250-275/month during the school year to stay in an apartment with six people.

Usually this apartment is pretty run down. Last year, while still at BYU, I had a friend who's carpet was constantly soaked by rain and snow. She tried getting it fixed numerous times but the management just blew her off--until her roommate's father called and threatened legal action. Miraculously, a maintenance man was there within two days two fix the leak and change the carpet.

Now, why in the world should little Provo, Utah have run down apartments that cost $1500-1650/month? I did a quick search. The average rent for a three bedroom apartment near the medical center (hey, I'm gonna be in med school next year) in Houston, TX is $550-900/month. San Francisco has 3-bedroom, 1100+ square feet apartments for $1400-1700, the same price as Provo. The average apartment with those specifications in New York City, near 5th avenue, is $3500/month.

College towns are not much different. Palo Alto, CA, which houses Stanford students, does so at around $2000/month for an apartment with the standard specs. Housing near Harvard is aroun $2200/month. But we must remember that both California and the East Coast compensate higher housing costs with higher wages. Provo is a small town in Utah. Housing in Salt Lake City around the University of Utah (arch-rival to BYU) rents for approx. $750/month for the standard specs. It's the exact same price in Austin, TX if you want to go to UT-Austin. Denver, CO shows $755-900/month. University of Arizona students pay about $700/month.

Ultimately, BYU has screwed its students long enough. The restrictions BYU has placed on housing by forcing owners to become BYU approved has driven down quality while making price comparable to San Francisco, CA. Now BYU has enacted a regulation requiring all single BYU students to live within two miles of campus (unless living with family) effective beginning of 2007. Effective immediately, BYU has stopped approving new houses and complexes because, as one employee told me, there are too many vacancies in the already approved housing.

BYU has become an enforcer for the giant housing owners.

Consequently, if something isn't done, rents will increase again, the standard of living will remain poor, and BYU students will continue to be screwed by "the Lord's University."