Mice, bed bugs and broken laundry machines. No, that is not a bad hotel review that is how students at UC Berkeley are describing their dorms which cost more than $17,000 a school year. Melissa Colorado reports.
Mice, bed bugs and broken laundry machines.
No, that's not a bad hotel review. That's how some UC Berkeley students are describing their dorms, which can cost more than $17,000 a school year.
The university says they are working to fix the pest problems and are offering impacted students another place to stay.
The dorms facing the pest problem are the Stern and Foothill residence halls, as first reported by The Daily Californian. Both dorms are older buildings, with Stern built in the 1940s.
Students said they would like to see the university use some of the costs they pay to live in the buildings for upgrades and renovations.
"I would love not to have rats," UC Berkeley student Cristina Bailey said.
Rats are not the roommates Bailey expected to share a room with when she moved into UC Berkeley's Foothill dorm at the start of the school year. Bailey said the rats even chewed on her roommates clothes.
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Bailey said her parents are paying more than $2,100 a month for her room and board, which includes a meal plan.
"We had to get rid of all the food that we had and now we only have food in closed containers," Bailey said.
A spokesperson for UC Berkeley admits there is a rodent problem at both Foothill and Stern halls. The university provided the following statement:
"We’re working to address this issue, and pest control and housing facilities staff are treating (setting traps, sealing points of entry, etc.) and cleaning impacted areas."
The university also points out the halls are next to wooded areas, which can attract more rodents than any other dorms further south.
