My daughter is dealing with this now. She’s allergic to cats and one of her roommates brought a cat to their shared university apartment. (Apparently with no heads-ups even though they’d all been in contact before move in.) Now in her first week of classes my daughter has had to scramble to set up an appointment with her doctor, request medical releases, and have an ADA housing form signed so she can be accommodated. I feel it would have been nice for them to check for pet allergies before matching roommates but my daughter said housing told her that they can’t ask whether students need emotional support animals so they couldn’t have considered that when matching students.
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that seems kooky - both our kids (at different schools) had a question on their housing form if they would be open to rooming with someone with an ES animal. Allergies are not uncommon, so odd your school felt they couldn’t ask.
One of our kids had a hall mate with an ES parrot -
made so much noise and the bird was asked not to return the next semester. Student returned and bird did not.
Other daughter’s school sent out several reminders to students to not let their support dogs poop in the communal showers or leave litter box mess in the hallway garbage.
I understand the need for some to have the support, but also see how it is taken advantage of too.
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I don’t believe the housing application asked about whether they had pet allergies/other concerns about living with animals. The main issue seems to be that housing apparently can’t ask who might be bringing an ESA so even if they know who has an allergy, asthma, or can’t live with an animal for other reasons, there’s no way to avoid assigning these students to rooms with an ESA. My daughter could have requested a no animal/allergy accommodation when she applied, but I’m not sure if it would have prevented the initial assignment.
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Older S’ second grade class had a pet chinchilla. Each weekend a student had to take it home and care for it. Guess how we learned older S is allergic to chinchillas? Though for him, petting it and then touching his face seemed to be the key trigger. Not just coexisting. Rabbits are worse. We found that out at a magic show/birthday party.
I’ve got to assume that the people making these laws and rules never had to live with pet allergies. But even then, it’s a bad idea. Emotional support animal for one may trigger panic attacks in another. And most college dorms are barely big enough for their human occupants. Adding in animals? Not to mention the cleanliness issues. College students aren’t typically known for their dorm cleaning habits.
And waiting until everyone moves in and then having the poor allergic kid to scramble to make other arrangements? Not a cool way to start their college experience. That just makes me mad. Very glad my kids didn’t have to deal with that.
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They are misinterpreting the law. A landlord or anyone providing housing can request proof of the ESA need. Again it is the student who has to qualify, not the animal. Just like the airlines used to ask for a copy of the letter from a ‘professional’ (often a psychologist, but sometimes others like a doctor) to show the need for the ESA. My daughter had to provide one for an apartment or she would have been charged a pet fee.
They may not be able to ask WHY the person needs the ESA, but can ask IF a student needs an ESA and for the documentation. They can also ask for vet certificates, rabies/vaccination info. They can also ask what services the service dog performs but not what the disability is.
What if the housing dept assigned students with 2 dogs and 2 cats to the same suite? What if someone shows up with a Rottweiler and a roommate with a doberman?
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I wish I had more clarity about the whole situation but my daughter is handling things for now. Maybe someone in the housing office is misinterpreting the school’s policy or maybe the housing office itself is misinterpreting the law. I will need to make a call to the hosing office myself if this goes much longer without resolution.
Yes, you should get involved, if necessary. Our housing manager was very well trained on the regulations re: support animals. She said that while students with animals had to be accommodated, their rights did not eclipse those who were allergic or even just not comfortable living with animals. That meant that she had to ask about animals, and she had to carefully match them with roommates. Fair housing rules are different from ADA.
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Sorry I was nit versed with terminologies, but I meant the bogus emotional support animals.
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cats in dorms seem to be way more common than I would have expected- a few kids I know have adopted cats, say they are an ESA and off they go. No cats I can remember in college though one friend did sneak a bunny into her dorm room and when we were older a few people living off campus had dogs. DS had a suite mate who brought her cat second semester last year, he loved it. I do think colleges are smart to try and address this somehow.
It’s been difficult for a number of colleges to deal with the many students requiring ESAs and/or singles. These students all have proper medical documentation, but it has added pressure to housing at some schools. Balancing the needs of those with pet allergies and/or those who don’t want to live with any animals complicates things further. Many schools’ residential software systems are dated, barbaric even.
At one of my kids’ LACs with about 3,500 students they have always struggled to run the housing process smoothly (according to the parents’ FB page). I said this elsewhere, but every year there were about 100-150 ESAs on campus, no dorms had zero ESAs, they were overenrolled, and the town has limited off-campus housing. A perfect storm as it were.
Schools can charge more for single rooms (even if medically required), not sure if they can charge more to have an ESA or extra cleaning fees and such.
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Something similar happened to my daughter last year. She is severely allergic to cats and on move in day we found out her new roommate had multiple cats! We went straight to the housing office and told them they needed to place her somewhere else and also sent a strongly worded email detailing her medical history, which included ER visits from asthma attacks triggered by cats. Then we went to a hotel to wait. They moved her, but it was a stressful situation. The only animals I think should be allowed in dorms are service animals and I think the ESA stuff has gotten out of control. Allergies, hygiene, possible bites are just not worth it. I say this as a pet owner/lover.
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I would get involved immediately. Your child’s health and well-being are at risk. Sadly some colleges pay more attention to forceful parents than they do to students.
As stated upthread I have pet allergies so may be particularly sensitive (and somewhat angered) by this situation. It seems irresponsible to not ask about allergies before assigning rooms. IMO it seems easy enough to add a question asking if a student would be comfortable having an animal in his/her room to a housing questionnaire and avoid such issues.
I’m thinking that these days students with pet allergies, fear of animals etc. should file documentation with the Office of Disability Services prior to starting college.
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She hasn’t moved in yet because she doesn’t want to risk triggering her asthma. Fortunately this has been an option because her campus is somewhat local and she’s been able to commute from home without too much hassle in these early days of the semester. My initial impulse absolutely was to call myself (and I still will if there’s any attempt to place her in a different building, room type, etc.) but when she told me about the steps she’d already taken and didn’t immediately ask for my help resolving the situation I decided to take a back seat because I’ve been trying to encourage more independence/growth the past few years!
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Whatever the school’s responsibility, in our case it’s UCB, I don’t understand why the student wouldn’t have mentioned that she was bringing a cat to the others in their group chat before move in. I don’t want to sound unsympathetic, but to me it feels like she was trying to hide something. Or maybe it was a last minute decision–like she didn’t know she couldn’t bring herself to move in without her cat or maybe she just found a cat she wanted to keep?
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Unfortunately, it is federal law that ESAs are allowed in housing. Hotels do not have to allow, but apts, dorms, rental houses do. They can require documentation, and they can restrict the number of pets, size, and species.
Are colleges asking about other housing requirements on applications? Food restrictions (kosher, pork, vegan) especially if there is a suite kitchen? Sex? Religion?
I think pet allergies and medical requirements are more important than if you like rock music or want the lights off before midnight when assigning roommates.
My daughter’s dorm assignment was screwed up on move in. It ended up working out, but she did miss out on the first day excitement of moving in.
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Higher incidence of mental health diagnoses in college going age group = higher incidence of need for ESAs
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I realize I may have come across as rather harsh. I do not mean to minimize mental health issues in college age adults. We have dealt with severe anxiety/depression in our family and it is terrifying and heartbreaking. My “out of control” comment was more addressing the inappropriate use of ESA status to just be able bring a pet into a place they are not usually allowed (not needed for actual support)
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I am not a psychiatrist or psychologist, but are animals the only emotional support someone can have? If if it is then it should be and needs to be disclosed to roommates. I have no allergy and I am quite attached to D2’s dog, but I wouldn’t want to live with an animal 24-7. This is a case of someone’s right does not trump over others.
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Of course not but colleges (as providers of housing) don’t have to make accommodations for other items that give emotional support (a blanket, a swimming pool, music?). Federal law requires accommodations for ESA in housing and public transportation. NOT in restaurants (cafeterias), not in the classrooms, stadiums, rec centers, libraries. The students cannot bring their animals to these places. The poor animal has to wait in the dorm room.
The airlines got the law revised because it was getting ridiculous with people bringing birds and ferrets and spiders on just because they could.
Service dogs are different as they must perform a service for their person. Lead the blind, alert for diabetes issues or seizures, turn lights on and off, pick up dropped items. Dogs but now monkeys and other helper pets can be trained. They can go in all on campus and public locations.
I think the law is going to have to change to allow businesses to required proof that the animal is service trained and not an ESA where the PERSON is certified. I’m really tired of animals being in restaurants and stores just because their owners want them there. If you are so anxious that you can’t be separated from your ESA for a 2 hour movie or to eat in a restaurant, stay home. A friend was raising a service puppy and was furious that California Pizza kitchen wouldn’t let her bring him in because the law requires the person with the disability be with the dog. There isn’t an exception for animals in training. I don’t know what she claims now as he aged out of the program (during covid) so is now her pet who she takes to school (k-5) as a therapy reading dog. He’s not a service dog and she’s not disabled, but I bet he wears a ‘service dog’ vest. Unlike working service dogs, the children are encouraged to pet and hug this guy. He’s well trained, but not service dog trained.
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