If you go to Hutchinson Community College, you live (or take classes) on N Plum Street. Our Hutchinson storage facility is at 4601 N Plum St — about three miles up the same road from campus. Which means we’re the nearest self-storage to HutchCC, period.
For students, that’s genuinely useful. This guide is the practical “here’s how to use storage as a HutchCC student” rundown — with the actual numbers, sizes, and timing you need.
The three times HutchCC students use storage
Summer break (May to August)
This is the big one. Most dorm contracts at HutchCC end in May; you don’t move back until late August. That’s three months of needing to do something with all the stuff in your dorm room.
Your options:
- Drive it all home in one heroic trip. Doable, but expensive on gas if you’re out of state — and then you’re hauling it all back in August.
- Convince your parents to let it pile up in their garage. Sometimes works, sometimes leads to a difficult phone call.
- Rent a small storage unit for the summer. Three months of a 5×10 costs about the same as one round trip in a U-Haul.
For most students from outside Reno County, summer storage near campus is the cheapest, easiest option.
Between semesters (winter break)
The dorms are typically open over winter break, but if you’re going home for 3–4 weeks and don’t want valuables sitting in an empty dorm room, a short-term unit gets your laptop, instruments, and anything irreplaceable into a more secure space. Easy month-to-month.
Internship or co-op out of town
If you land a summer internship in Wichita or elsewhere — or you’re on a sports team traveling for tournaments — you may not need your dorm stuff at all for a stretch. Storage frees you from hauling it.
How much storage do you actually need?
A typical HutchCC dorm room’s worth of stuff fits comfortably in our smallest unit. Here’s the math:
5′ × 10′ (50 sq ft) — Most students, easily
- Mini-fridge
- Microwave
- Bedding, pillow, lamp, fan
- 4–6 plastic bins of clothes
- 2–3 boxes of textbooks/binders
- Desk lamp, alarm clock, small electronics
- A bicycle if needed
You’ll have plenty of room left.
10′ × 10′ (100 sq ft) — If you’re splitting with roommates
Two or three students splitting a single 10×10 is the most cost-effective setup we see. Split four ways — one per side — and rent comes out to about $16–20 per person per month for the whole summer.
Splitting a unit with roommates: a few rules
Sharing storage works great if everyone’s on the same page. A few things to nail down before move-in:
One name on the lease, one billing card
You can’t split a lease three ways with us. One person needs to be the renter of record. Usually that’s whoever has the best schedule for handling the office paperwork, picks up the lock, and is most likely to remember to pay. The rest of you Venmo them.
Tape off your sections inside the unit
Sounds dumb. Works perfectly. Use painter’s tape on the floor to mark each person’s side. Stack against the back wall up to the tape line, not past it. Eliminates 100% of “whose stack is that” arguments in August.
Label every box with whose stuff is whose
Especially relevant for shared kitchen items. Sharpie everything. Future you will thank past you.
Move-out day: coordinate
You want everyone showing up the same day at the same time to load OUT. Otherwise the first person there is moving the other two people’s stacks to reach their own bins. Choose a date. Stick to it.
The timing — when to actually do this
The HutchCC academic calendar runs roughly:
- Spring semester ends early/mid May (check your specific date)
- Dorm move-out deadline usually 1–2 days after finals
- Fall semester move-in mid-late August
Practical timeline:
Two weeks before finals
Reserve your unit. We’ll hold it without charging you until your move-in date. Don’t wait until finals week to call — everyone else waits until finals week to call, and the smallest units fill up first.
Finals week
Pack as you go. Pack the stuff you’re not using anymore each day after finishing exams. Spreads the work out.
Move-out day
Drive to the storage unit (it’s on N Plum, same street as campus — head north about 3 miles, you can’t miss it). Load it in. Lock up. Drive home.
August, week before classes
Reverse the process. Pick up your stuff. Move into the dorm. Cancel the unit.
What it costs
A 5×10 unit for three summer months runs about the equivalent of one tank of gas a month. Split with a roommate or two, less. We’re month-to-month with no long-term commitment, so you literally pay for the months you need.
Compare that to:
- Round-trip gas to drag everything home and back: usually $80–200+ depending on distance
- Renting a U-Haul: $40–100+ per use, twice
- Storing at a friend’s parents’ house: the risk of a relationship-ending phone call when they want their garage back
Math usually works out in favor of a storage unit.
One specific Hutchinson tip
Our Hutchinson location is climate-controlled — meaning your textbooks won’t warp, your guitar will be fine, and your laptop and electronics stay safe in stable temperatures all summer. Important when Hutchinson regularly hits 100°F in August.
That’s worth a few dollars more than a drive-up unit if you’re storing anything you actually care about for a full summer.
FAQ for student renters
Do I need a parent or co-signer on the lease?
No. If you’re 18+, you can sign for your own unit.
Can my parents pay if I’m the renter?
Yes — you can put any card on file for auto-pay, including a parent’s.
What about moving help?
We don’t provide movers, but we’re drive-up access at this location (yes, even though it’s climate-controlled) — you can pull your car right up to the unit door. Bringing one friend is usually plenty.
Can I cancel any time?
Yes. We’re month-to-month. Give us a few days’ notice when you want to move out and that’s it.
What if I forget to renew?
We auto-bill if you set up auto-pay, or we’ll send reminders. You won’t lose your stuff over a forgotten payment — we’ll call you first.
The TL;DR
You’re a HutchCC student, you have summer break coming, and three months of dragging everything home and back doesn’t make sense. Rent a 5×10 (or split a 10×10) three miles up N Plum at our Hutchinson facility. Three months, climate-controlled, month-to-month, costs about the price of a couple pizzas.
Call (620) 543-5925. Mention you’re a HutchCC student. We’ll take care of it.