Every year, more than a 1,000 students sign up for an MSU housing contract that, for some reason or another, they must break.

A new housing contract plans to stop this epidemic by giving students, who sign a housing contract for next fall, only 14 days to break it, or face being locked into that dorm room.

While it is irresponsible for anyone to break a contract, this 14-day stipulation does not take into consideration the rapid changes in lives of students, especially freshman who have only finished one semester at MSU and are not sure where they belong on campus (such as those who are secluded on the remote island that is Brody).

University Housing believed the old policy allowed students to use dorm rooms as "back-ups" while they searched for a house or apartment for the fall.

University Housing said the revision will free up more space for students who really do want to "live on," and will force students to be more cautious before they sign that binding contract.

However, housing should have devised another method that made students think twice about moving off campus. Instead of shrinking the cancellation window, they should have fined students for bailing out.

A 14-day window of time is too short to decide whether or not you want to live on campus. Students formerly had a whole semester -15 weeks - to contemplate a year-long decision.

The university should assess a fee of $200 or more if students opt out of their contract - MSU can earn some extra cash, and students who experience an unexpected turn of events can get out of a contract.

This is consistent with leases for off-campus living arrangements - if a student chooses to break a lease, they will be forced to pay for their actions.

The dorm housing fee would give students a reason to think before they jump into a legally binding contract.

Two weeks is just not enough time for students to be locked into living somewhere for an entire year.