A revised university policy will ensure students deciding where to live next year make up their minds quickly.

For the first time, University Housing has revised the rules for breaking a housing contract. Instead of having until the end of spring semester, a student must cancel a contract within 14 days of signing it or be locked in.

University Housing Director Angela Brown said this move was developed after a lot of careful consideration.

"We've been monitoring this for a long time. We decided this after surveying a lot of schools, not just in Michigan, but across the nation," she said, adding that the policy at each school is different.

Brown said the problem is that some students looking for off-campus housing will use the dorms as a backup plan. This makes fewer rooms on campus available for students who actually want them.

"We're not trying to prevent students from returning, what we're trying to do is to make it fair for everyone," she said.

But some students feel this change is a little harsh. Advertising junior Ryan McDonough called the revision "not that great."

During his sophomore year, McDonough said, he and his friends were looking to live in an apartment, but plans ended up falling through. Under the revised policy, students in a similar situation will have fewer choices when selecting where to live.

After checking with the officials from the university's legal office, who said there was no minimum amount of time that has to be given for canceling a contract, 14 days was agreed upon, Brown said.

"It should be more than enough time for students to make up their mind to keep the room," she said.

University Housing wants to do is ensure that students who truly want to live on campus have their fair selection of rooms, Brown said.

"We just want to make sure you're signing the contract in good faith," she said.

North Complex Manager Mary Lou Heberlein said there won't be any changes in the way students sign up for housing, just in the paperwork itself.

"We want students to know the change," she said. "I wouldn't want to sign anything I didn't know (about)."

Information about the change will be given to current residents in the on-campus newsletter, and signs are posted in some residence hall lobbies to remind students.

Brown said this change also will serve as a better way to measure how many students really want to live in the dorms.

"We usually see inflated numbers at sign-up," she said. "This will give us a truer picture of how many people want to live here."

Accounting sophomore Philip Lator said he understands where University Housing is coming from but thinks being locked into a contract is too harsh a penalty.

"It seems like there are a lot of things that could come up: Your roommate could leave, maybe your grades are bad," he said. Lator suggested a small fine be assessed for a late cancellation.

"Maybe $50 or something like that, instead of having to pay for the whole thing," he said.

Nicole Collett, however, doesn't have as much sympathy.

"I guess 14 days might be too short, but people should already kind of know what they're doing when they sign the contract," the zoology senior said.