I would then be grateful that I would be graduating soon and likely be able to find a job, unlike your apartment manager, where I wouldn’t have to bring bad karma onto myself by agreeing to work for a company that exploits others for nothing other than excessive greed.

It’s a slippery slope, and no apartment manager is interested in getting busted breaking those laws. To skirt the issue, try renting from a Mom-and-Pop landlord. I think that if they have 4 units or less then Fair Housing laws do not apply, and you can strike deals then.

If I were you, my calculations would go along these lines:

1. Month-to-month rentals are hard to find and usually pricier than leases.
2. At this late date — right as the semester begins — I’m unlikely to find a place at the same or lower fare.
3. $580 x 4 = $2,320, or $85 a month more than I’m already paying. Over four months, that adds up to $340.
4. $495 x 12 = $5940. That is $3,620 more than I would have to pay if I agreed to stay month-to-month; if I can’t sublet the place starting in January, I’ll be on the hook for more than $3600.
5. It costs something to move: utility companies gouge royally for flipping a switch to turn off the power where you are and turn it on in your new digs; if I don’t have a truck or a friend with a truck, I may have to rent a U-Haul to get my junk to the new hovel.

While $340 is a lot in the Studentland, in the larger scheme of things it’s not much…especially when you subtract the costs of moving and figure in the hassle factor of having to uproot yourself just as the semester is starting. I would lean toward staying.

I might spend the Labor Day weekend running around to see if I could rent a room somewhere, camp out with some friends, or get a month-to-month lease for the semester at the same rate or less than I’m paying now. But I would not move on principle alone.