This is the story of Andy . Andy wanted to get out of his Bowles Contract. Andy had found a nice little house with people he liked that he wanted to live in.

So Andy went down to the Housing and Dining Department . The Housing and Dining Department told Andy that he could cancel his Bowles Contract, and they would find a replacement for him, and not to worry, because he was first on the waiting list, so Andy was happy and on December 15, moved out of Bowles .

All was happy and fine. Andy went home for Winter Break, and all was well until mid-December, when Andy received a bill from the University with a $600 charge from Housing and Dining for January Room and Board. Andy was confused, so he called, long distance, Housing and Dining . Housing and Dining told Andy not to worry, the process of finding a replacement for him was still going on, and that Housing and Dining would find a replacement for him, he was first on the waiting list. Satisfied, Andy decided not to pay the January Bill .

Time passed, and Andy's mother kept bugging Andy to find out what was happening. So Andy called Housing and Dining again, and they said not to worry, they hadn't done the replacement process yet. Winter Break was winding down, and Andy called Housing and Dining one more time. Housing and Dining told Andy that they had done the replacement process and three replacements had been found. Unfortunately for Andy , there were also three people who withdrew from Bowles . (One person graduated, one person widthdrew from the University , and one person was kicked out, I think) Therefore, Housing and Dining had not found a replacement for Andy , but they were still looking.

At this point Andy began to get a bit nervous. He had already moved out of Bowles , and had been living in his house for at least a month. Before returned to Berkeley on January 17th, another bill for $600 (Februrary Room and Board) arrived. Andy decided to ignore this one as well, confident that within a few days, the situation would be resolved.

Time passed, and Housing and Dining had not found a replacement for Andy . On February 13th, Housing and Dining send Andy a letter saying that they didn't find a replacement and Andy had three choices: 1) Move back into Bowles . 2) Find a replacement himself. 3) Write a letter to the Appeals Board.

Andy didn't want to move back into Bowles so he tried to find his own replacement. Unfortunately for Andy , on February 15th, another bill for $600 was due. This one went unpaid as well, because Andy was optimistic on finding a replacement. But, no one wanted to move into Bowles , especially this far into the semester.

Andy decided to write a letter to the Appeals Board. Housing and Dining gives three good reasons and three bad reasons for appealing to have a housing contract cancelled . The good reasons were: Medical, Financial and Contractual. Andy had sort of financial and contractual, but not really. The bad reasons were: Found Alternate Housing,Roommate Conflict, and Dietary needs, Two of these definitely applied to Andy . He didn't appear to have a good case.

Andy wrote the letter , but didn't get any documentation, so the first appeal was denied. Two weeks later, Andy tried again, with a photocopy of his lease agreement at his house . This was denied too, expectedly. Andy was upset, and basically gave in and got ready to move back into Bowles .

About March 7, Andy was visiting the offices of Housing and Dining for the umpteenth time, when one of the clerks suggested that Andy write a letter to Harry Le Grande, Director of Housing and Dining . So Andy did. Harry gave the letter to the director of Placement, who then called Andy on March 12th, saying that Housing and Dining would cancel Andy's Bowles contract. And everyone was happy .

The whole affair ended up costing Andy (Actually, Andy's mother ) $1,800 . $600 for each January, Feburary and March housing, at which time Andy was also paying rent at his house .

Then during Spring break, Andy was back home , and his mother gave him a letter from Housing that said that he owed them another $250 for cancelling his contract. At this point Andy and his mother figured what's another $250 when we've already paid $1,800 , so we'll pay it, grudgingly.

Spring break passed, and on April 1st, Andy received his CARS bill for the month of April. At the top, there was the $250 charge, as he expected, but there also was a refund for January, February, and March's housing . So really the only thing that cost was the $250.

End of Story (we all hope)

P.S. I don't know if I should be putting this last part on the page, because, if it turns out to be a mistake that they refunded me, the last thing I want to do is draw their attention to it.