Just got the email this evening that returning students will be limited to a selection of on-campus housing, very little of which includes Honors Housing. Yes, a lot of students already move out their second year, but there are many students who may like the idea of living in Honors Housing for most of their time at Alabama, especially if they have scholarships funding their housing. I hope those who want to remain in Honors Housing will be able to do so, but looks like it will only be available on a very limited basis in Ridgecrest East and on the 5th floor of Paty. Time to go apartment shopping!
One new compelling option, however, is going to be in Highlands Building F - a substance/drug free building. Love that idea.
I really enjoyed being able to live on campus almost every semester while I was at Alabama, but I guess there are just not enough dorm rooms to match the demand now.
From the way I am reading it, there seems to be even less available for returning students for Fall 2016 than this past semester. And there are not too many slots for those currently in the suites.
I went and checked last year, and looks like the following were available this year, but have now been removed for returning students in Fall 2016
Lakeside East & West
Presidential East & West
Ridgecrest South
Ridgecrest West
Riverside East
Only suites will be Ridgecrest East, limited spaces for Honors & Riverside West. Paty is available for upperclassmen, but I know DS doesn’t want to live there. He has 2 friends there who were looking forward to moving out.
The Highlands & Bryce Lawn were not recommended to me when I asked about them.
I thought I would let him try for on campus housing but w/ these new changes, it appears UA is trying really hard to open up the suites for freshmen. I was hoping he would move off campus, but he & friends wanted to stay on campus and I know a lot of parents have already signed leases for off campus housing. I now feel we are going to be behind on this; wish this email had been sent LAST month.
The “guarantee” of honors housing for upperclass honors students went away in 2012. The last class with the NMF 4-year housing scholarship graduates this spring. It may be that the numbers are such that RCE and Paty are all they need for honors upperclassmen, and they’re trying to consolidate them in one place. Most upperclassmen prefer to move off campus, and off campus housing can be less expensive than the suite style dorms. My daughter stayed in the dorms sophomore year, but most people she knew who didn’t have housing scholarships moved off campus after freshman year. I could be dead wrong, but I suspect honors housing was more popular prior to construction of Presidential, when there weren’t as many suite-style dorms available for non-honors students and honors housing was the ticket to a suite-style dorm.
Laralei, there are plenty of off-campus apartments still available. It’s only certain units in certain popular complexes that rent quickly in the fall. I don’t think you’re behind; there are lots of students who don’t firm up their housing until second semester. My daughter’s boyfriend didn’t lease his place until June, and he had multiple options.
^ touche, @beth’s mom - don’t sweat this, parents!..I know that is easy for us to say with hindsight, but trust us, it will all work out. If your student is ‘lucky’ enough to stay on campus and wants to (and I believe they have a good chance of doing so if you meet deadlines), don’t worry too much about where Honors is or is not. Those currently living on campus get 1st pick anyway, over all incoming freshman (if they are chosen to recontract). Living in non-Honors is not a travesty. Each year UA Housing tries something a little bit different to try and find-tune the process, and they are always looking to improve. You may not find a better-run housing process than that at UA. If some of you have better experiences with other colleges, please pass them on to UA Hous
I started checking on off campus housing back in Sept. The units I would have considered were not much cheaper than UA dorms. So I was willing to let let him try for it again next year, as most of the upperclassmen parents said their kids had no problems staying on campus.
However UA pulled a lot of the “desirable” rooms off the table entirely. The only suites available for all returning students are in Riverside West. What’s that around 450 spots? There are limited spaces in Ridgecrest East & only for the honors students.
I think this is a huge change from last year on availability, unless there were always so few spots, just spread out among all the suite style dorms.
We will deal with it either way, I still would have preferred to know about this sooner. I know one of his roommates parents were in Tuscaloosa for Thanksgiving & if they had known they could have done checking around. This stuff gets complicated when you are OOS with limited finances.
Riverside West is awesome. Son spent 2 years there. Very handy to stuff. Super quiet. Good views. Nice greenspace out the back and tiny pool to dip your feet in. Clubhouse has a piano. No stoves in the kitchens would be the only complaint, I guess, for some. Riverside East and North are similar. All good.
As a current student who lives on campus, I feel like they should’ve just limited the number they accepted. Instead it seems as though they just want to discourage them from wanting to live on campus by offering dorms that aren’t the major popular. Riverside was nice back when it was honors and had a pool. They filled the pool with concrete I didn’t have intentions of living on campus next year but I have friends who planned on it and are upset. Life goes on though.
Bamagirl18, why is there no organized effort from students to pressure the administration to raise standards so that the incoming freshman classes aren’t bigger every year? I have heard complaints from a number of students about the enrollment growth , but never hear anyone trying to do anything about it. Maybe you and others could contact the SGA President and let him know your concerns about enrollment growth.
@Atlanta68, I think @bamagirl18 was referring to limiting the number of dorms for returning students, not the number of freshman they accept. Instead UA is offering housing to upperclassmen that many would not choose live in.
I could be wrong, but that is what I took from her post.
Ok, maybe you are right, I wasn’t criticizing her, just curious why students haven’t pushed for a halt to undergrad growth given these kind of difficulties.
Well, UA does state they guarantee dorms for freshman, actually it’s mandatory. However, upperclassmen should expect to move off campus.
So that isn’t a big surprise, but speaking w/ other FB parents, many stated most of the upperclassmen were able to stay on campus if they wanted.
Maybe UA ended up w/ this being a bigger problem than anticipated this year, so they instituted the changes.
It just would have been better knowing about these changes sooner.
At least w/ UA there are a lot of off campus options. Not always the case w/ other schools.
I was actually hoping DS would move off campus as he would be able to stay during school breaks. It is costing us far more than anticipated just with travel expenses.
The university has never guaranteed on campus housing except for freshman (mandatory) and those with housing scholarships (only a few per year).
If I am not mistaken, the freshman requirement to live on campus began with the fall 2006 semester and caused some disgruntled opinions then. There will always be some pros and cons to living on campus, but usually by the second year most students want to live off campus.
The University of Alabama is quite lucky, because there are plenty of really nice apartment complexes close to campus. Some are even within easy walking distance, others provide shuttle service. Compared to other parts of the country, the rents are reasonable and usually cost less than the “super suites”.
I’ll clarify what I meant, in perfectly okay with the larger freshman classes. I enjoy the culture here and even though it is growing, it still feels small and like home to me. However I was referring to the fact that they are only offering certain dorms to returners when they could’ve just limited the amount of returners allowed on campus. I just have a hard time understanding why they would limit dorms rather than just limit people and let them live where they chose.
In all probability UA Housing is just tweaking the process again.
It makes sense that UA Housing is trying to keep the newest housing for freshmen, as those suites are a great recruitment incentive. Therefore, I do think that UA Housing is smart to leave the majority of “Super Suires” in the newest buildings for freshmen.
It Is not like returning students are not being offered housing. If they meet all the deadlines, I would bet they would get a space, I don’t think that there were returning students getting denied last year, if they applied on time.
Returning students are lucky to get offered any on-campus housing, many universities cannot accommodate upperclassmen, some can’t even accommodate freshmen.
I see no problem in what they are doing. It makes sense to group the returning students in fewer dorms then have them scattered around in all dorms. In the past, the returning student could choose where they wanted first. So you’d have many rooms with one or two upperclassmen. This made it harder for freshman room selection looking for four person suites available. They are not saying they are reducing the number of spots, just the choices in location. And there is still options for suite-style living for both honors and non-honors.
Last year, DS and roomies had not decided yet where they wanted to live sophomore year, so they opted in for housing when it was available but continued to look off campus as well. They all were eligible for on campus but decided on off campus in February. No problems finding off campus housing in the spring.
^ factor into what decision? whether to attend UA or not?! a virtual ton of universities do not have nearly as nice a system as UA’s, with GUARANTEED freshman housing. good luck with your decisions, but if you are expecting to live 2+ years on campus, good luck at other schools is all I’m sayin’…
If some of you have better experiences with other colleges, please pass them on to UA Hous
I didn’t have intentions of living on campus next year but I have friends who planned on it and are upset. Life goes on though.