Reading the phrase “no pets allowed” in a newspaper’s classified advertisement may be nothing out of the ordinary, but reading “no students allowed” has confused some Iowa State students.

Karla Stewart, junior in advertising, said she discovered several classified advertisements for home and apartment rentals that specified “no students allowed.”

“I thought these advertisements were discriminating against students,” Stewart said.

But Kevin Kirlin, a lawyer with the Des Moines firm of Roehrick, Hulting, Blumberg, Kirlin and Krull, said landlords are not allowed to discriminate.

“According to state and federal law and the Iowa Code 216.8, there is no general prohibition on discrimination against students,” he said.

As the code reads, the eight points of discrimination are race, color, creed, sex, religion, national origin, disability and familial status, he said.

Just because the advertisements may seem unfair, they are not illegal.

Reasons for placing restrictions on students can range from protecting new furniture to not wanting a lot of cars parked near the house or apartment, said Sherri Howerton, property manager for Furman Realty in Ames.

Howerton said these reasons are rare, although most landlords want to rent to families rather than students.

“The most popular reason for the student restriction is that most home or apartment owners would prefer a family over students simply because a family sticks around a lot longer,” she said.

Howerton also said Furman Realty discourages owners to restrict students.

Placing restrictions on students increases the difficulty of selling the house or apartment because nearly half of the Ames population consists of students, she said.

Although Howerton has seen a few cases like this, she said they do not show up very often.

She said in most cases students fail to meet a fixed-income requirement.

“Although these advertisements are not illegal, if a student has good credit there is no reason not to rent out to them,” Howerton said.