<p>This is essentially a continuation of the honors housing crisis threads, which Im guessing the original poster would like to let die (but note to Mom2twins youre awesome).</p>
<p>First, for anyone disappointed with a housing assignment: Based on info from the housing office, at this point changes are very unlikely. There are a fair number of students who havent received any assignment yet, plus many change requests have been submitted since that process opened in May. All requests are handled in the order received, so if you put one in now youll be at the end of the line and everything will stop in a week or two anyway. After that all change requests are deleted. A new process will begin after school starts and things have settled down a bit.</p>
<p>Second, for future applicants: Rely only on the official written policies. Take everything else with several grains of salt because things can change at any time. My daughter was told more than once, and as recently as late April, not to worry unless she was hoping for specific roommates. Im sure that was said honestly, with only the best intentions, based on past experience. Unfortunately, it also turned out to be wrong. If you can’t commit by December, as many posters here rightly encourage, understand you may need to adjust your expectations.</p>
<p>I really should have known better, having already seen the way the NMF scholarship package changed unexpectedly last summer. The enrollment situation may be simply too unpredictable these days, perhaps a natural result of Alabamas generous automatic scholarships and growing popularity.</p>
<p>Lesson learned. My daughter will head to final freshman orientation expecting very little choice in course selection. If she gets some classes she really wants great, and if not it wont be such a big disappointment. Mmmm . . . raisins.</p>
<p>Thanks for the kind words. </p>
<p>Lesson learned. My daughter will head to final freshman orientation expecting very little choice in course selection. If she gets some classes she really wants great, and if not it won’t be such a big disappointment. Mmmm . . . raisins.</p>
<p>Once you get 15 posts, you can PM. At that point, I can tell you how to help your D get more of the course sections that she wants. </p>
<p>Until next year, when the second bldg of Presidential opens, there seems to be a greater housing crunch. More students are coming every year. </p>
<p>Has anyone heard how many Bama students are being “put” (by agreement) into the new Lofts? I wonder if that process has Bama in a holding pattern until they’re sure that those apts will be finished on time. Imagine that they’d hate to reassign kids only to learn that the Lofts has some odd delay.</p>
<p>That said, I’ve been driving around T-town lately and am amazed to find more and more student housing apts opening…very nice places! </p>
<p>If current students learn about these and decide that they want to lease there instead, Bama may get some spots opening. </p>
<p>And, maybe Bama should allow some waivers for “older frosh” (age 19+) to opt out of residential housing and go immediately off-campus.</p>
<p>My advise is to GO TO THE OFFICE OF THE COURSE DESIRED AFTER REGISTRATION AND ASK TO SEE THE DEPARTMENT HEAD OR WHOEVER IS THERE. PLEADE YOUR CASE THEN!!! Before you leave campus!!! Then follow up with emails, polite and sweet, but constant emails. You never know, but once they put a face with a name, your odds improve.</p>
<p>GREAT POST!!!</p>
<p>This is a bit off topic but still inline with the off campus housing issue. In reading several articles in the T-Town news when new developments are approved by the city and the comments underneath from readers. It is always disheartening to me to read of residents displeasure of having “more not needed student housing” built in T-Town. One reader went on a rant about the golf course and wishing that they would stop allowing UA to use the public course. I’m pretty sure that person had no clue that their local golf course was home to the NCAA Mens Champions for 2012-2013 as well as the NCAA Ladies Champions 2011-2012. Yes, T-Town DOES NEED more student housing near campus. Student housing that is nice, safe and affordable will always be needed close to any college campus. UA is going thru growing pains. It does effect the entire city and population. However, without this school there that is a pretty large driving force in the local economy, I’m sure most people outside of the state would have no clue where Tuscaloosa was located much less heard of it. The University of Alabama is reaching out to attract the best students out there and recruit more students. With it comes these growing pains where not everyone is going to get their desired dorm if they hesitate. However, in the end they are going to a school that has offered them much to help them realize their dreams. It is a changing world out there. College acceptance is super competitive nowadays. It is almost the snooze you lose when it comes to college no matter where you are going or looking at attending. Yes, there are schools that do not send acceptance letters out till April 1st with a May 1st decision date. One has to realize that if they are also looking at those schools as well as the ones like UA (there are many out there that have early housing commit dates) it is a risk they take. Just like todays job market is you don’t have time to take a job offer home and “think about it” cause it is going to be filled by the person behind you in the next 10 minutes. </p>
<p>If you want those chocolate chips in your cookies, you gotta get busy on the recipe as early as possible. Otherwise, the grocery store shelves are going to be barren of chocolate chips and that box of raisins will be the only thing left. Nothing wrong with raisins, they are good for you 
Sometimes better than chocolate chips.</p>
<p>Great post TxNewCollegeMom, I couldn’t agree more with you, especially about the people complaining about new housing too. I read the Tuscaloosa News too. It makes me sad to see what people put on there whenever there is good news or developments coming from anything to do with UA… They always complain about “putting cheaper housing for us regular , non student folks”. It’s not the city’s job to make sure you can afford a house? Also, why would they want to put a housing complex right next to campus on 15th street? It’s like they have never heard of the idea of capitalism. Those housing developments are paying top dollar for the land for those new complexes. Those people just seem like “give me now” type of people. I really don’t understand why an adult would want to live that close to campus anyway, dealing with traffic and things like that. I’d rather live in Northport or something if I was permanently going to live near UA. You’re right, they should be thankful they live in a town with a great institution of higher learning feeding the economic and intellectual growth of the city. I think Tuscaloosa is turning into a really nice place. It seems like it’s on the path to becoming a more progressive, Austin-like type of city. </p>
<p>BTW, sorry to the OP. I hope everything works out for you and your daughter and that she has a great first year at UA.</p>
<p>dixie, I went to a college in a “small town” that was within commuter distance of my parents. I commuted for several years. They had the same mentality and it drove me crazy. I get that they may want to live close to their job if it is within close proximity of the school. But, like you said, it is not the schools or responsibility of the city to insure adequate housing for everyone that wants to live in any given area. The school is concerned about their students. Sometimes you just want to smack some of them and tell them that if that school was not there then they most likely would not have the job they do nor live in that city. This school and those that attend and work there are providing a huge chunk of the funds for the infrastructure of the city. </p>
<p>I think Tuscaloosa has a lot to offer. The dining options blow away many larger cities. I’m not talking all the chain stuff that one can get at any given city across the country. The local options are the ones I like and T-Town is providing them. I may be the one gaining weight on my visits to town. Yes, in the papers comments I see many asking for all the chain options. ICK! I don’t eat at those places here and don’t want to when I travel. Keep those wonderful local options coming That is the only part of the Austin-like aspect I prefer. They can keep the Austin traffic 
</p>
<p>OP, best of luck to you and your daughter.</p>
<p>OP, thanks for the kind words ( if its me you actually meant). I hope that this is a transitonal year for housing to adjust to the 1 year NMF scholarship, Presidential being built, etc. Alabama has so much to recommend it but the first year housing uncertainty is not one. I suspect a drop in yield for NMF and high stats kids in future. i know CBH has felt a drop, related to above or not.</p>
<p>I think the misinterpretation of this thread is a metaphor for the larger issue : if you can’t enroll the freshman class with a compelling first-year experience, why worry about capacity of off campus housing? Maybe the answer is self evident: stop giving housing scholarships and hope that rising tides raise all boats. Hope that past recruiting efforts have been enough to sustain an upward trend in stats…</p>
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<p>I’m curious as to what this means. Are the stats of the CBH students going down this year? Have a large number of the students who were originally offered CBH declined?</p>
<p>I feel like you have kind of overblown the housing issue with the honors dorms.</p>
<p>I think the full tuition scholarship is attracting the high stats kids and the honors dorms are just a nice bonus. NOT a reason to decide not to attend if they were not guaranteed. So, I really don’t think this housing crunch will cause a decline in the high stats kids enrolling.</p>
<p>I agree kda1119. I have a hard time believing admissions to CBH has gotten anything but harder as well. I would like to know also what you have heard about CBH? I’m really curious to see what the average stats are for this year’s enrollment class and how big it is. Supposedly, the ultimate plan is to actually get to 50,000 students. It seems like UA is just having some small growing pains, which is definitely a good problem to have imo :)</p>
<p>We paid more attention to the academics, atmosphere and the total package. Of everything, dorms were pretty low down there and as a matter of fact we never even toured an actual dorm room on our first visit that “sold” UA to D and us. What I find kind of amusing of sorts, Tutwiler was pretty full within the first 2 days of the housing selection period. This is one of the oldest dorms on campus with small shared rooms, community baths and all. D said she wanted that experience over the suite style. She was in RCS for BB and will be in Lakeside for 4 weeks this summer. I asked several times, are you sure you do not want the suite dorms and received a resounding no each time. </p>
<p>I don’t see UA slowing down the recruiting train any time soon. </p>
<p>As for that compellling first year experience, I personally see that coming from the classes offered, professors that care about their students and get them involved, the level of involvement offered to all students to be a part of the school, the friendly atmosphere, and making life long friends. My D summed it up pretty much when she said she didn’t mind the traditional dorm as that is the place she sleeps and gets ready. Everything else will be outside of that small space.</p>
<p>Actually the honors dorms were a pretty big selling point for my daughter, for reasons that may not seem important to anyone else but matter to her. Likewise the changes in scholarship terms mattered to me, for reasons that are obvious and probably important to almost every parent on this site. Both are elements of the 'total package," important in varying degrees to different people. </p>
<p>That said, I’m finding the general discussion on housing here and elsewhere quite interesting, and appreciate people tracking and sharing what they see. Same goes for the discussions on recruiting, scholarship levels, etc., throughout this board. Every bit of information helps in formulating a picture (even if the edges are hazy) of what to look out for and what to expect.</p>
<p>Point of clarification: My specific thanks above was directed at Mom2twins, whose post in another thread had me saying “Yes! That’s it exactly!” I appreciate your empathy. But I also owe a million thanks to Mom2CollegeKids, who is so unfailingly encouraging, well-informed and practical. M2CK, when the zombie apocalypse hits, I’m following you.</p>
<p>I seem to recall several posts from UAHousing stating that honors students would get honors housing, albeit specific rooms not being guaranteed, if they accepted admission on or before May 1, 2013. </p>
<p>UA has a huge housing shortage that they didn’t accurately predict or prepare for and is doing everything it can to remedy the situation short of granting any freshman who asks a housing waiver or offering financial incentives for upperclassmen to move off campus. I’m somewhat surprised that UA hasn’t tried to buy out housing scholarships and place incoming freshmen in the rooms instead. Many businesses do something of this nature, be it asking for volunteers on an oversold flight, paying cash to customers who pay off their low interest credit card balances, or trading under-performing professional athletes. </p>
<p>If you and your student are dissatisfied with their housing assignment, you could ask to be granted a housing and dining exception. Depending on where they’d choose to live off campus, this could actually save you a ton of money. Even if UA would drop the mandatory meal plan as a service recovery gesture for placing honors students in non-honors accommodations, the students could use the savings to eat wherever they want, be it on or off campus. </p>
<p>It’s also worth noting that there are benefits to living in non-honors housing, particularly if one desires a more social dorm atmosphere and wants to save money.</p>
<p>In short, raisins can be great, but should a company promise chocolate chips as UA did multiple times, the company has at least an ethical obligation to provide something of equal or greater value to the chocolate chips upon customer request. I find it very surprising if Housing is prioritizing room change requests from students who don’t like their assigned roommates, safety issues aside, over students who were placed in a type of room other than the one they were promised by persons representing UA Housing in an official capacity simply because the “didn’t click with assigned roommate” requests were submitted earlier. UA has an educational incentive to match students with somewhat opposite personalities as roommates to teach them how to get along with a wide variety of people.</p>
<p>As for not getting ones desired schedule at Bama Bound, it’s common for students to change their schedules several times over the summer. I strongly suggest students to consider taking an online course to free up time in their schedules if they can handle the commitment it takes to do well in an online course.</p>
<p>Yes, buying out housing scholarships would have been one possible answer to manage the demand for honors housing. It appears from past threads UA chose to first stop 4-year assured honors housing, disappointing many on this forum. The fact that NMF housing scholarship was reduced to one year can be interpreted in part as a decision that UA would rather risk lowering their yield than continue to juggle scholarship upperclassman and incoming freshman in the current process. In doing so the scholarship no longer distinguishes itself from other full tuition schools as it did for so long. This topic was well covered here when the change was announced last summer. The data are not yet in on how that decision affected yield, but the lack of even one year of assured Honors housing will not help next years’ OOS yield, in my opinion. </p>
<p>My anecdotal CBH information is that many of the candidates my daughter met as the interview weekend are not attending. For at least a couple of parents I’ve spoken to, need based aid at higher ranked schools exceeded UA’s package without the housing scholarship. No idea if the numbers are significantly different this year but I was surprised how many openings remained at BB in May. I’m sure they are filling the class with very able students, but it was already true in May that a waitlist CBH offer went out to a kid placed in non-honors dorms (not by choice). May make for awkward interview weekend conversation next year regarding those great Honors dorms we just toured.</p>
<p>OP – our experience at Bama Bound getting classes was actually painless, so have heart. There may yet be chocolate chips in those cookies! We saw a couple of days ago that new Honors seminars are being added, so my daughter may juggle just to jump on something new that sounds even better. This forum has been VERY helpful in managing expectations for class selection, among many things!</p>
<p>Alabama’s enrollment of NMFs hardly affects yield. Last year, 26,409 people applied to UA, 14,019 were accepted, and 6,397 people enrolled. Of that 6,397, 239 were NMFs. It ends up being a yield difference of 1.7 % if no NMFs would have enrolled. </p>
<p>Also, it seems that honors housing is guaranteed to all students that pay the housing deposit by December 1st… </p>
<p>I’m sure UA has very good reasons to change the NMF scholarship. They said that they felt that it was too good compared to other institutions in their press release. The scholarship UA probably loves the most is the 32 act oos. Those people still pay for housing, raise the act score, and increase oos enrollment. Someone probably did a lot of analysis on the situation if I had to guess. I don’t think having a large number of NMF is as big of a deal as it used to be in a school’s rankings. Maybe this also led to the change?</p>
<p>So, if one doesn’t commit to Bama by December, one gets poor housing choices? Is this what the OP was saying? Even if you are an Honors College applicant? ETA: According to Dixie Delight I just need to get in a housing deposit by December 1st to get Honors housing??? Are Honors College decisions made by then? </p>
<p>The housing stuff everywhere worries me. My ds is casting a wide net with regard to the type of schools he will apply to, some of which will not render decisions until April 1st. He will likely be a NMF, so Alabama is on his list as a “safety.” But, I don’t understand how one can protect oneself against a bad housing situation here (or anywhere else for that matter) if one makes a late decision. Can he put in a housing deposit? I wouldn’t care if it had to be forfeited.</p>
<p>TIA. First and only time we will be going through this process.</p>
<p>Sea_Tide says: “I seem to recall several posts from UAHousing stating that honors students would get honors housing, albeit specific rooms not being guaranteed, if they accepted admission on or before May 1, 2013.”</p>
<p>I do not recall UA stating that. Please document this or point to where this was said by UA (i.e., not just posters).</p>