Every year, non-local Claremont College students are faced with a dilemma: where should they keep their things over the summer? A panoply of options are available, but researching and deciding between them can be a chore.
Last year, Pomona charged students for summer storage for the first time, with a fee of $25 for one or two boxes and $50 for 3-5. Although Pomona is “still working through” the exact details of its procedure for summer storage this year, according to Housing Director Deanna Bos, the college has determined that the rate this year will be $10 per box. Belongings are stored in the basements of campus buildings, which are locked and alarmed, but not air-conditioned.
Alone among the 5Cs, Harvey Mudd offers its students limited free storage in its residence halls over the summer on a first-come-first-served basis.
Neither Pitzer, Scripps, nor CMC offer their students any college-run summer storage options, free or otherwise. All three schools do have flyers with lists of available local storage providers, however. One popular choice is Extra Space Storage, located about 2 miles from the campuses.
“May is a heavy move-in month for us as far as the Claremont Colleges go,” said George Lucas, the facility manager at Extra Space Storage.
Often students will split the cost of a storage unit amongst themselves.
One new option this year, Banana Storage, is actually owned and operated by Claremont College students. Founded by four CMC students, Banana Storage won the top prize in this year’s Henry R. Kravis Concept Plan Competition, taking home $4,500 for its business proposal.
“We offer free pickup and delivery, which no other service offers,” said Harrison Zivot CM ’11, co-founder of the company.
Banana Storage is also unique in that it charges students per box or item for the whole summer, instead of for a set area per month.
“We’ve had a lot of interest, which is good,” Zivot added.
According to Zivot, the students plan to use the prize money toward developing a professional website for next year, marketing, deposits on storage facilities, and new integrative logistic software which will allow the company to track items more efficiently.
Banana Storage actually began its life as Banana Rental, Zivot said, which planned to rent furniture to students so they would not have to go through the process of trying to sell it at the end of their senior years. However, soon the aspiring entrepreneurs realized that up-front costs for a furniture rental business would be too high, and switched their focus to storage units.