Could a department help me with moving out?

[InquilineKea]

I'm going on medical leave for a year (so I need to move out of my apartment), and my mom just told me this:

 

 

Also, you can go to the department, tell either a secretary, a professor, graduate student dean that you need help in moving out of you apartment (i.e., take stuff out of your dorm)

Trust me, they will fell obligated to help or find a student to help you out.

 

 

 

Does anyone know if this is actually a good idea or not?

[Eigen]

As a grad student?

 

I would think this would be really weird, in the absence of severely extenuating circumstances (ie, you could not make it to your apartment/were in the hospital/out of state and wouldn't be returning). 

 

More typical would be to ask friends/fellow grad students to help you move. Or hire a moving company. 

[TakeruK]

I suppose you could ask your department (e.g. the people your mom said) but they aren't going to personally help you out. What they might do is to forward the request to the rest of the grad students and ask if they could help you out. But this would be weird -- wouldn't it be better for you to just ask your colleagues directly? Personally, I'd help a colleague move, even if we aren't close friends or anything. Providing beer and/or pizza generally helps! 

 

Like Eigen said, if you need help moving, it makes more sense to ask your peers. Or hire professionals to do it if you are unable to do it and/or don't want to inconvenience others. 

 

If your mom means you should ask your department for financial assistance in moving out, then this would vary a lot from department to department and depend on their own policies. I would say that since it's uncommon for a department to provide support for moving expenses, it would be even less common for a student moving out! 

 

Unless you are in a situation where you absolutely cannot handle this on your own (e.g. no one is available to help and you're broke), I think it would be better for you to be responsible for your own move-out, without involving department staff on a personal matter.

[TMP]

Um no.  That's what your graduate colleagues and friends are for.  Get on Facebook (if you have an account) and post a status message.

 

Don't trust  your parents' (well-meaning) advice when it comes to academia.

[lewin]

Trust me, they will fell obligated to help or find a student to help you out.

 

 

And more generally, it's poor form to deliberately use guilt to motivate people into helping you. I'm probably reading into things, but that's the implication I get from this sentence.

[fuzzylogician]

No one at the school is obligated to help you financially or physically. If you go to a dean, you're also going over several people's heads. If you ask a secretary she may forward the request to the graduate students but as the others have said, it's a weird way to ask your friends for help. You know them already and you should approach them yourself instead of having someone do it for you. Simply approach some of the students in your department and ask for help, or post on the social media site of your choice. 

[juilletmercredi]

Um, no.  I don't even think a departmental secretary would forward this request to the graduate students, unless there were dire circumstances like you were in the hospital.

[danieleWrites]

Yeah, don't emotionally blackmail the department for 2 reasons: 1) it's just flat mean, rude, and poor behavior, and 2) more selfishly, someday you'll want to return to grad school. Do you want to be forever known as, "oh, yeah, that student that made us help her/him move."

 

Now, depending on your medical condition, you can often get support or help from support groups in the area. For example, I have epilepsy and I've gotten a lot of help from epilepsy support groups over the years. Now, they didn't help me move, but I have gotten a ride to the store a time or two.