College dorm rooms can be a valuable possession depending on which city you live in. In some places, people are even willing to masquerade as students to save themselves from paying exorbitant rent on apartments outside of the confines of the university.
A university in New York is realizing how valuable their dorm rooms are. Hunter College in Manhattan is suing Lisa Palmer for $94,000 in housing fees. According to them, Lisa dropped out of the college in 2016, but has continued to stay in the dorm room and has refused to pay the housing fees. Worse still, she refuses to leave the room to allow the College to give it to an enrolled student.
After ignoring all the eviction notices, the school informed her that she would be charged $150 for every day she decided to stay. Palmer ignored this notice as well and the school has decided to take her to court in hopes of being awarded damages to pay for the housing.
According to the lawsuit, "Not only did Palmer refuse to vacate her dormitory room in order to make room for incoming, eligible students enrolled at Hunter College, but she dropped out of Hunter College, making her ineligible for student housing in any event."
Palmer responded to the lawsuit and is defiant in the face of the accusations.
The geography major told media that she was forced out of classes in her final semester and plans to finish her degree. She said she is currently working two jobs. She also said she is serving on the board of Geospatial Information Systems.
She says she did not plan to drop out, but was not allowed to register for classes in 2016 after she disputed her housing and tuition bills.
According to her, the eviction order took her by surprise. "I felt that it was a miscommunication initially, but after I met with the dean I felt that they were starting to treat me unfairly. It was like 'Get out.'"
She added that living in the dorm room was not the great situation she envisioned for herself either and that the dorm life is "really lonely" for a person in her 30s. "I feel very isolated," she said.
Palmer isn't the only long time resident causing headaches to Hunter College. According to court files, the school is also trying to evict a 67-year-old man who has kept a dorm room as a "crash pad" since 1980.