All of the bedrooms in the suite style dorms have doors. The bedroom doors have separate locks from the main door, so you can lock your bedroom and you are the only one who has access.
For students who will be participating in Freshman Room Selection, any questions about hall style preferences are only to help you search for roommates who are looking for the same kind of living situation as you.
The preferences become much more important if you apply for housing after February 1, or if you do not select during online room selection. Space in buildings that match your preferences on this page may not be available when
your assignment is made or selected. These preferences are not a guarantee that these hall styles will still be available.
You can change your answers to probably every question asked in the application, at a later date. So hall preferences can be re-arranged, your profile questions, cell phone number, SMS text opt-in… you name it.
SouthernBound18: your question about how late you can pay the deposit and still get what you want… depends on what you want! The earlier you complete the application process, the earlier you will select or be assigned. So it just means there are more options available to you.
Some students are hoping for an incredibly specific space, i.e. Lakeside West, 2nd floor, not next to elevator, facing the lake. The more specifics your plan is, the less space we have that fits that description, and the harder it might be to grab that specific spot! But if what you want is more flexible, then you can perhaps risk waiting longer.
It’s very hard for us to tell people exactly when certain buildings fill up, or when certain situations are no longer an option. If you call our Housing office, one of our staff can talk through your preferences with you and potentially better guide you as to how competitive a certain option is.
Hope this helps,
Janine
@UAHousing I was wondering what information would be available to us when it comes to picking a roommate (i.e. their major, interests, personality, etc)?
Thanks so much for the info! Wondering if there are building floor plans anywhere (not just individual room plans) so that you can see room placement within the building…for example how close it is to the elevator and if it faces a courtyard.
@2018eastorwest “Wondering if there are building floor plans anywhere (not just individual room plans) so that you can see room placement within the building…for example how close it is to the elevator and if it faces a courtyard.” To answer you question yes. At least they were the last two years. However they are only viewable to the student inside their housing application a couple of days before the first assigned time slot to pick their dorm building and room.
Thanks again for the info !!!
JCChipotle,
Roommate search will begin on Monday, Nov. 2. That way we have a larger pool of potential roommates for students to search.
Basically, if it’s a question that’s asked in the application, you can search by it.
You can also search by keyword, which might help you narrow down by other interests, like major or home state. You might want to search Engineering or Tennessee, etc.
Hope this helps!
Janine
What if you don’t commit to Alabama until the spring? Are you still guaranteed housing as a freshman? Can you be assured of Honors Housing if you want that or will just end up in the dregs of whatever is left?
^^ Such as during March or April? You are guaranteed housing as a freshmen, but you would not be guaranteed HONORS and/or suite-style housing if you pay your enrollment deposit and housing deposit that late. (As a parent, I wasn’t at all thrilled about paying the enrollment deposit in October, but we did it anyway for peace of mind. All but $25 of the housing deposit is refundable; the $200 enrollment fee is not.) You could still end up in Honors housing…it’s possible…but definitely no guarantees.
So in order to get the good housing, you need to send in your enrollment deposit before you have even applied to other schools. While my D is applying to most schools early, there are two that she will be applying to RD in January. Any one know how many people put down enrollment deposits just to hold their place and then forfeit them as other acceptances come in?
I don’t, @me29034, but I’m guessing it is not an insignificant number. And then if you factor in “summer thaw” (the number of students who back out of a school over the summer)–which ALL schools deal with to one degree or another, there are likely even more.
We were in your exact situation with our son two years ago (chronicled here in depth!) and did NOT put down the early deposits or pay to enroll until April 15. It all worked out in the end, but we were willing to gamble and had the time and energy to get his eventual housing assignment changed. If I had to do it all over again I’d probably do the same thing, but only you and your student can decide how to proceed.
If the other schools she’s applying to are all reaches (academically or financially) and you think the odds of her attending UA are better than 50% it might be worth paying the enrollment and deposit fees for peace of mind.
We, also, did not put the housing deposit down until April. The key to DS getting an honors suite was finding another roommate that had put the deposit down early. Only one of the 4 suite mates needs to have an early time slot then they pull in the other 3 roommates. It is a gamble, but one we were willing to take.