All students are required to pick up the key to their room at the beginning of their housing assignment.
Room keys are issued by the Department of Public Safety. Students must report lost or stolen keys to the Department of Public Safety immediately. The student will be allowed to sign out a second key from Public Safety for a 24 hour period. There is a key charge and a lock change fee for lost and stolen keys On occasion a student is not able to come to Public Safety to obtain a replacement key at the time of the lock out. If the student requests a Public Safety officer to assist with unlocking his/her dorm room door, the lockout service will result in a $10 charge.
· Lockout Keys: Students are issued a temporary replacement key for 24 hours if they are locked out of their room. If the key is not brought back by the end of the following day along with their original key, a work order is submitted to the locksmiths for that lock to be changed. Once a work order has been placed there is a $50.00 charge. If the student returns their key before the lock change, then only $50 will be charged to their account. If the key is not brought back until after the lock change, then their account will be charged $100.00 total. See the Key Return policy.
· Moving: When students are moving to a new room, they must come to Public Safety to pick up their new key. The student is allowed to have their old key out for 24 hours. If the key is not brought back by the end of the following day, a work order is submitted to the locksmiths for that lock to be changed. Once a work order has been placed, there is a $50.00 charge. If the student returns their key before the lock change, then only $50 will be charged to their account. If the key is not brought back until after the lock change, then their account will be charged $100.00 total.
· Room Swap: When students swap rooms (even within suites), both (or all) students, must stop in at Public Safety with the keys so that we can re-issue the keys to the actual occupant of that room. Public Safety will not change the key records unless we can see the actual key. This helps us prevent billing the wrong student if a key is not returned and also allows us to have accurate records in the event of theft or other security related issues. See the Key Return policy.
· Stolen Keys: Students are issued a temporary replacement key for 24 hours if their key is stolen. The locks are changed that day/night (ASAP) and the students must come to Public Safety to sign out the new key to their room. A $100 charge is assessed to the student’s account ($50 for the key & $50 for the lock change) and the temporary key must be returned at that time to avoid additional charges.
· Moving Out: Students have 3 days from the end of their housing assignment to return their keys to Public Safety. If the key is not returned to Public Safety by the end of the 3rd day, a work order is submitted to the locksmiths for that lock to be changed. Once a work order has been placed there is a $50.00 charge. If the student returns their key before the lock change then only $50 will be charged to their account. If the key is not brought back until after the lock change then their account will be charged $100.00 total. If the student takes their key home with them after their housing assignment has ended, it is their responsibility to get it back to Public Safety by the end of the 3rd day. UPS and FedEx Overnight/Next day are the recommended methods of shipping as the USPS machines often strip the keys out of paper envelopes. Very few keys shipped by the United States Postal Service ever reach Public Safety.
· Master Keys: Students’ accounts are automatically charged $100 for lost or stolen master keys. A $50/Lock charge is assessed and could potentially apply to the student, the house, or the responsible party determined by the Commons Dean and the Director of Public Safety. (Note: the actual cost associated with a lost master key could be hundreds of dollars. This fine will be increased next year.)