At many West Campus apartments, students often pay rent for all of August despite not being allowed to move in until the last couple weeks of the month. 

2400 Nueces property manager Laura Bales said charging rent as such “is a very common practice.”

“Essentially, we do not prorate the rent,” Bales said. “We ask for one lump sum, and we divide it into twelve equal installments, kind of like a car payment. So in other words, if we were to prorate August, the other monthly rental installments would just be higher. Each lease has a total one lease amount that’s listed on the lease agreement, and it’s divided equally over the 12 month period.”

The reason new residents at 2400 Nueces cannot move in before Aug. 17 is because it takes two weeks to prepare the apartments after leases end on July 31, Bales said. She said information about rent payment for 2400 Nueces can be found within the first several pages of the contracts given to new residents.

“It is really spelled out on the lease, and we do answer any questions, so it’s not like we try and hide any information or anything like that,” Bales said.

Julia Vanduren, an advertising and communication and leadership sophomore, said she learned about paying full rent for August from a different resource provided by her apartment complex, MUZE Student Living. 

“It didn’t cause issues for me since I planned for my first payment ahead of time, although I know that it’s not as simple as that for everyone,” Vanduren said. “My apartment complex had a FAQ about payments and explained everything, so it was really clear from the get-go.”

Public health sophomore Joshua Daniels, who lives in Dobie Twenty21 Student Spaces, said he thinks apartment complexes should make a change to where students would not have to pay rent for all of August.

“I needed a place to stay for the last August orientation. (Dobie was) going to charge me extra to move in before the 24th, so I ended up staying at a hotel and paying for August rent despite only being there a week,” Daniels said.

Sam Carlson, leasing manager for Dobie Twenty21 Student Spaces, said Dobie residents receive their first installment amount on Aug. 1, and new residents can move in on Aug. 23. He recommends students pay the first installment right when it is posted.

“You cannot move in and be handed keys without paying your first installment,” Carlson said. “A lot of people are waiting until Aug. 23 to pay that and are getting hit pretty hard because they’ll have another installment due on Sept. 1. So we suggest paying on Aug. 1 so when you move in on the 23 … you don’t see all this money come out within two weeks of each other.”