Dan Morrison
Director of Residence Life, Georgia Tech Department of Housing

Remember August? It was hot and you likely moved your student into Tech Housing along with several hundred other families. Well, it may not be as hot, but most everything else will be the same during May move-out -including the parking lot congestion, the amount of stuff, and the lack of elevators!

And just like move-in during the fall, move-out requires some planning and preparation. Here are a few suggestions from Residence Life to help make this process as smooth as possible for you and your student:

Familiarize yourself and your student with the housing deadlines and timelines. These can be found at www.housing.gatech.edu - click on Spring 2011 Closing Information.

* For students not living on-campus during summer semester, the check-out deadline is 24 hours after their last final exam. This may likely be before the weekend, and we ask you abide by that deadline. It makes everything else go smoothly if everyone doesn’t try to move out at once on Saturday.

The final deadline for a student to be completely moved out - room cleaned and returned as it was found in August or when student moved in - and checked out by staff is Saturday, May 7, at noon.

* For students who are graduating in May, he or she must be totally moved and checked out by staff by Monday, May 9 at noon.

* For students staying for summer school, if he or she is staying in the same room occupied during spring semester, there is nothing that needs to be done - so you can relax! If your student is moving to another hall for summer, she or he will need to do so on Sunday, May 8, between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. These students will receive correspondence from their hall director if the room will be ready as early as 9 a.m.

* Housing cannot extend these deadlines since our student resident assistants (RAs) will be going home as well. We cannot allow students to stay in an unstaffed building.

Students should pack prior to final exams. Students do not prepare or pack during finals - so we all need to encourage them to do so BEFORE final exams start. Plus, it provides a good and productive study break. Students should take out their recycling, throw away rubbish, organize their belongings, get boxes and packing tape, etc. If students wait until they have completed their exams, they simply will not have enough time to do all of this!

Send stuff home now. Why wait? If you and your student can arrange to take a couple of loads home before the move out period, it will be easier for everyone.

Plan ahead and think about storage/shipping options. Georgia Tech cannot provide any storage on campus for the summer. The Spring Closing information describes nearby storage facilities, as well as two services you may find useful - Mobile Storage Depot (containers brought to campus, student fills them, stored locally and returned to student’s hall for Fall move-in) and Campus Carriers (delivers storage boxes and supplies, students packs, Campus Carriers picks up and ships boxes home or where ever student/family desires). Check them out!

For more information, visit our website www.housing.gatech.edu.