<p>Hello, hello!</p>
<p>I was accepted into the honors college, but unfortunately, my parents and I cannot afford honors housing. I am most likely going with a standard double – at the moment, I am deciding between Burke and Parham (assuming that space is available).</p>
<p>(a) For those of you who have been on campus, which dorm is better? Aesthetically, of course, but also in terms of community and location.</p>
<p>(b) Is it true that I cannot move into a suite-style building after freshman year? I absolutely adore Riverside/Ridgecrest/Pres. Village, but from what I’ve read, it would be impossible to relocate as a sophomore.</p>
<p>Somerville & Tutwiler are also options, but I don’t know as much about them – I literally know nothing about Palmer other than the fact that the Mallet Assembly sounds simultaneously intriguing & really, really creepy. Any information would be lovely!</p>
<p>Mallet won’t be in Palmer Hall next year as Palmer Hall is slated to be demolished. The Mallet Assembly is a very interesting organization and is not at all creepy. They are moving to one of the apartment-style residence halls next year. If you wanted to join Mallet, you can typically move in during the year provided space is available. Some freshman students move directly into the Mallet residence hall/living-learning community since they applied to Mallet as high school seniors.</p>
<p>Burke and Parham are very similar except that Parham is all-female and Burke is coed by floor. The buildings are right across the street from each other and were built around the same time. Burke does have a dining hall on the first floor that anyone can access. Burke Dining Hall would be a 1-3 minute walk from Parham, 30 seconds of which would be outside.</p>
<p>It’s typically not allowed to move into a suite-style building after ones freshman year unless one already lives in one of those buildings.</p>
<p>Most students move off campus after freshman year. If you wanted to live in a suite-style residence hall during one of your years at UA, it’d be best to do so your first year and then move off campus. Off campus housing typically costs less than similar on campus housing.</p>
<p>Hi. My son is planning on Burke Hall West. He will be a freshman Honors student in the fall, but like you, for various reasons he is not planning to select suite style. One big one is the approx. $3,200 difference in price! Re: your question about moving to suite style from traditional community style… yes, I got confirmation from the Housing office on that – you are correct. (We had talked about a cheaper freshman year and moving to suite style for soph yr…) Of course, policies do sometimes change from year to year, so no guarantees. Good luck! Let us know where you end up!</p>
<p>@SEA_tide Thank you! I know it was a bit presumptuous of me to use ‘creepy’ when describing Mallet (I actually adored the idea when I first stumbled across it!), but some exaggerated horror stories on Google probably made me a little biased. 
I’m especially glad to hear about the cost of off-campus housing, as I always loved the idea but was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to afford rent.</p>
<p>@amy9998 Oh, trust me, that price difference was a shock! It’s a little disappointing to hear about the suite style buildings, but the option of living off-campus certainly cushions the blow a little.</p>
<p>Just going by the pros and cons, I’ll probably end up in Burke, just because I’ve heard that the community environment is a little more – I don’t know, active. Standard dorm or not, I’m excited for fall! :)</p>
<p>People have always maintained that off-campus housing is significantly less expensive than living on-campus. But it is still frightful, to me, if you break it down on a monthly basis. Currently, suite-style housing on-campus cost $8800/yr or $733/mo if you look at it on a 12-month basis. (Traditional dorm rooms cost $467/mo on a 12-mo basis, or $5600/yr.) That is PER ROOM! If you get a 3-br apt, with each person paying ~$500/mo, that is like paying a huge mortgage payment…for an apartment…jeesh. </p>
<p>It’s not unheard of to get an apartment near campus with 2 bedrooms and 1 bathroom for $600 per month, some utilities included. Split between two people, it’s much less than on-campus living and one has the apartment for the whole 12 months.</p>
<p>It’s not uncommon for 6-10 people to rent one of the houses on Caplewood Drive behind Publix. The per-person rent for one of those houses is quite affordable.</p>
<p>Northport tends to be more affordable than Tuscaloosa and actually has more student-friendly housing rules because most students don’t consider living on the other side of the river.</p>
<p>Funnily enough the housing at UA and in Tuscaloosa was a big draw for DS. To give you some perspective, he was also considering UC Santa Barbara where the room plus unlimited meal plan costs $17,165 for a single, $15,665 for a double, and $12,865 for a triple shared room. Housing off campus in Isla Vista is advertised on a per BED not per room basis. Students pay between $500 and $800 per month for a shared room with utilities and parking extra. Here’s a link from Santa Barbara Community College in Isla Vista which gives you an idea. </p>
<p><a href=“Housing List - Santa Barbara City College”>Housing List - Santa Barbara City College;
<p>The beautiful and reasonably priced accommodation on and off campus at UA looks fantastic in comparison.</p>
<p>ah yes…perspective. I must remind myself of this when paying the equivalent of a 2nd mortgage to house my S at college…</p>
<p>Don’t feel bad about describing Mallet as creepy, a lot of the people in there would probably embrace that fact. They definitely are the oddballs on campus, and there’s a bit of hardcore drug use going on in there. Definitely don’t try and live there unless you’re super into that alternative lifestyle. There are some nice and normal members, don’t get me wrong, but the majority definitely embrace their weirdness and people, especially Greeks, give them crap all the time. I would recommend Burke over Parham just because it has a dining hall in it and because it is coed, plus it is a bit nicer. Sommerville is gross, don’t live there! Tut would be fun if you’re rushing, and it’s so convenient being right by the sororities. It is old and a little gross, but not much worse than Burke. </p>
<p>Also a ton of Asians and other foreign exchange students live in Burke, which is something else to consider. </p>
<p>Update!</p>
<p>As it turns out, my financial situation was a little worse than we first anticipated, and I was only able to room in Somerville. I’m still cringing at the idea of sharing a room with two other girls, but my roommates seem nice, so I suppose we’ll just have to see how things go. :)</p>
<p>You will be fine, you have a good attitude and after all, it is only for nine months. Lots of us have had worse student housing situations back in the good old days.</p>
<p>Great information! My daughter just found out she will be living in Somerville. I have seen the word “GROSS” to describe this dorm which concerns me. My husband and I are concerned for two reasons; 1. They found asbestos in Somerville and had it removed in 2013. Did they really get it all? I called Housing and they said yes. My husband had a good point to ask the school for documentation that all the asbestos has been removed and has been inspected. 2. We found an article stating that Somerville will be demolished at the end of the year. Which would make for an easy move out but I don’t know. I’m concerned as I haven’t heard any positive things about Somerville. Thoughts?</p>
<p>One will find asbestos in a lot of older buildings. There is no requirement that it be removed, only that it is contained in such a way that it cannot be a health hazard and that the owner keeps documentation on all known locations of asbestos. UA publishes a report with this information. FWIW, asbestos is legal for use in many products currently sold in the US. </p>
<p>Somerville is an older dorm, but is very well-built. It was slated for demolition, but that was postponed for a few years. Its sister dorm, Palmer Hall, is in the process of being demolished. UA continues to invest in updates to Somerville, including new mattresses, updated furniture, better WiFi, enhanced safety features, and more.</p>