Collegiate Housing Services The Biggest College Scam Ever Created! Indionapolis Indiana

I agree that this company preys on unsuspecting students and parents.  Your story is one of many that I have found online when I began searching to see if others had experiences similar to ours.We have heard from many past employees/RA's that share the same opinion you do.  We are currently fighting with CHS regarding astronomical fees after we chose to move our son from their housing due to a concern for his safety and well being.

Please feel free to tell your story on the FB page Collegiate Housing Services Complaints. I can only hope that as more people share their stories a lawyer will take a legal stand and file a class action suit against this company. If not perhaps together we can save others from suffering at the hands of this company.

I worked for Collegiate Housing Services (CHS) and found that their business practices were unethical and some instances may be illegal in some states in which they were doing business.

OVERVIEW OF WHAT THEY DO: CHS typically leases a 2 bedroom apartment and then subleases it to 4 students with two student per room. They have the student and a guarantor sign a lease and commit to a number of instrusive rules. CHS is not a dorm and does not want to be compared to a dorm, yet it imposes dorms style rules which again are probably very illegal in most states. They violate housing laws by discriminating against students with kids and who have a spouse (will not rent to them) and mandate same sex housing. I know in my state only dorms can mandate same sex housing. They convince the school to commit to a pre-determined number of students that will lease from CHS and if the quota is not met, the school has to pay them for the shortage. CHS's big money maker is on the fees it charges the students and guarantors. Again I know for a fact that these fees and their methods are illegal in some states. Trust me when I say, they will take you down with their fees. Their selling point is that you pay this flat fee and you get to share an apartment with 3 other people and use the crappy furniture they rent (and will charge you damages for) and get your utilities (up to some undisclosed limit) paid. When I worked for them I found that a student could actually do better finding his own roomates or renting a room on his own. I think CHS's program works for very short term situations. Like an out of state or out of area new student. In this case I would suggest no longer than a 3 months lease which by the way they charge you more fore. Did I mention that they over charge for the apartment....

I want to warn all Students and Parents before you sign up with them to note the following:

1. LEASE AGREEMENT: Take it to a lawyer or a tenant advocate! They will not change the lease under any circumstance. The lease does NOT specify an actual unit you will be leasing so this gives (according to them) the right to move you when ever and where ever they want. All residential leases specify the unit you will be leasing , not CHS's lease. Also the lease has a major contridiction that they blow off. They verbally tell you that rent can not go up if your roommate moves. Read the lease it says otherwise! The lease also says they can enter your apartment unannouced any time during business hours. Also since CHS is subleasing to the student the student can be evicted if CHS violates its lease with the actual landlord. I have heard of students being "consolidated" or moved to another apartment because it starts costing CHS when they have multiple vacancies throughout a number of units. If a student is in the middle of midterms or finals and is provided a notice out no where to move, this is an unnecessary burden.

I know for a fact that this is illegal in my state. It doesn't matter if you are 21 or 61 they will take and punish you for any kind of alcohol, including beer. They like to prey on the parents whose kids are moving out for the first time and convince them that their strict (yet possibily illegal) rules will protect their kids. Yet not once does CHS check an apartment building to see if a sex offenders live in the building nor do they check the crime stats of the neighborhood or building.

2. CLEANING FEES: This is the unethcial part. I can go on days about this. They just pulled numbers out of the sky and typed them on a sheet of paper. I saw nothing to support their cleaning fee costs.

3. SCHOOL RELATIONSHIPS: The school wants to have housing as a perk for their students who need housing. If the school commited to hiring its onsite housing specialist who worked with local apartment communities, property management companies, realtors, etc. they could provide a good service. I think that if CHS revamped its business practices, it could be a good service, but it would not be profitable to them.

4. CORPORATE CHS: You have VP's flying around the country conducting student move-ins???? I have seen many staff running up AMEX credit card bills and staying at nice hotels and traveling around the country to conduct these student move-ins. I think if they have a competent system and local staff in place they would not have these kinds of expenses that are being bank rolled by the all the cleaning and late fees they charge students.

I can go on about this company. My final words: Students and Parents stay away from Collegiate Housing Services unless you want to pay a bunch of fees, mess up your credit or lease from a company that violates housing laws and tenants rights.

I am waiting not only for the class action lawsuit but also the fair housing and discrimination action.

Read the lease next time before you sign it. CHS works with Financial Aid better than a complex. Think of the extra money as interest payment.

This company is not this bad. They work with people better than apartment complexes.

My wording was a little harsh looking back. But I have to say that at the time I wrote this I had an eviction notice in my hand and was about to get kicked out. Collegiate housing may or may not be the best deal but I do apologize for the harsh language used in the report above. I was given the 411 on collegiate housing's expenses and was told why they charge so much. It does make sense because they are out a lot of money Especially since they pay the electricity and they pay the water and with today's high energy costs, it seems to not be as bad of a rate. I just wish that they would have something cheaper where they let you have your own utilities because I would save on those.

They have improved their service by working with financial aid and not kicking out the student. Had it not been for my very good friend that paid my rent the month I was going to get kicked out, this effort to work with FA would have been meaningless. They are not as big of a scam as I thought.