Hello people of LA, I am an international student attending a new US university based in California. It is so new that they have a habit of making up new rules on the fly, from absence policies to work-study hours. For the upcoming school year, our schedule indicates that we have a two-day orientation program in our campus city in September before classes start. This orientation program is supposedly mandatory according to the Student Guide, but there has never been any penalties for missing them and it is not mentioned in any agreement we signed. Many people have missed them in the past years because of visa problems or other reasons outside of their control.

Just recently, we saw that the pre-departure information page has been changed to state that if we miss this program, we will be fined $100 and have to create a presentation explaining the content of the Orientation (kind of like make-up work, I guess). By this point, however, we have already signed our Residential Agreement, paid our tuition and housing costs, accepted our financial aid, etc. – basically finished all the legal proceedings to confirm our enrollment in the school year. Needless to say we're all baffled and under the impression that "Well if we just don't pay or do anything, what are they gonna do?"

My questions are: Do they have any legal ground to enforce these penalties? If this is not legal and we would like to complain about their practice, which bureau/institution do we contact? In case they attempt to enforce the penalties anyway, how do we retaliate?

Thanks in advance!