<p>no off campus locations under HRC?</p>
<p>My son told me that there are 7000 beds in the dorms and 6000 freshmen which
Leaves 1000 beds for the upperclassmen. Is this accurate? I just don’t know how we
will be able to find him an apartment from 1200 miles away. It’s kind of scary.</p>
<p>don’t worry. your student is an adult, not a kid. i am sure he/she is perfectly capable of finding an apartment without your help. i, and most of my friends (and probably YOU, too), did it 30 years ago, and so can your kids.</p>
<p>my younger daughter (18) and her friends found an apartment mostly on their own (at a different school) this year, and they are already on the hunt for their place for next year.</p>
<p>set a budget and help your student with a list of questions and let them have at it.</p>
<p>sure, it is easier to have kids live in the dorms all four years, but that is not the reality at most schools. partly because schools can’t accommodate everyone for four years and partly because students don’t WANT to live in dorms for four years.</p>
<p>the easiest thing to do is get a fully furnished place on the bus route, but that may not be the best choice, overall, just the easiest.</p>
<p>Hi RTR Mom,
You are correct with regard to online room selection for returning students. Students who complete the recontracting process, and are eligible for on campus housing and room selection, have the first opportunity to select their same space, or “stay put,” as long as that space is available for next year and the student is eligible to live there. When might a student not be eligible to stay put? Harris Hall, for example, is freshman only, so a current freshman cannot return to Harris the next year.<br>
Once students have the opportunity to stay put, the next opportunity is for current residents of a hall to move around within that hall, before residents of other buildings see it to choose. After that, we open up the process for students to move around among residence halls. Who picks first, in that case? Rising seniors, rising juniors, then rising sophomore.</p>
<p>Hope this helps. Please call our office at 205-348-6676 if you still have questions.</p>
<p>Alicia Browne</p>
<p>On campus housing capacity is currently about 8,000 beds. It’s too early to have an idea about the incoming freshman class for next year or about demand from current residents. However, there are many resources to help a student who is looking for off-campus housing. We have hosted our first off-campus housing fair of the year, and the next one will take place on November 28, from 10:00-1:00 in the Ferguson Center. That is a great place to start. Helpful web sites include [Crimson</a> Choice Home Page](<a href=“http://www.crimsonchoice.ua.edu%5DCrimson”>http://www.crimsonchoice.ua.edu) and [Student</a> Affairs | Housing & Residential Communities](<a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/offcampus]Student”>http://housing.ua.edu/offcampus). A student can also come into the Housing office to speak with staff who work with off-campus housing.</p>
<p>Proudmama3 i completely agree with you though, if they need to start looking for apartments as freshmen after only having been in Tuscaloosa for a couple months, that is a bit crazy. Ireally think my S will be lost if that is the case…</p>
<p>For the upperclassmen, is there the same ability to “pull in” roommates as there was for incoming freshmen? So that if one roomie has priority, he or she can pull in the others?</p>
<p>The Housing Fairs are great opportunities for those students who are seeking off campus housing. LOL…they are also very popular for their free tee shirts! 
Our daughter had no problems being able to identify and look at apartments with friends on her own. If necessary, we could have completed the lease process from home without traveling to Tuscaloosa.</p>
<p>There is a free app that is very helpful called “Alabama Apartments”. You’ll find it on the app store site. Just enter “Tuscaloosa” in the search box and it provides a list of apartments, with links to their sites, costs, descriptions, directions, amenities, costs, and pics.</p>
<p>Good luck! :)</p>
<p>There are a couple of new complexes in the works now to open in the fall.</p>
<p>UA Housing, because my son’s current dorm is no longer honors, he will HAVE to move to Ridgecrest to be part of the honors community. From my understanding, since he is not staying put in his room (and he would have LOVED to stay at Riverside West) he will have to wait until those who are at Ridgecrest choose their room or another room. Is this correct? Also as a student with an honors scholarship, if he gets a room at Ridgecrest can he “pull in” other students if they have been notified that they qualify for housing?</p>
<p>We are from out of state and my son doesn’t have a car, so I am mostly
worried that he will be forced to live off campus, have no transportation and
no access to all the activities he does. He is not very social, so he does things on the spur of the moment, so if he can’t just walk there, he’ll just stay home. :-(</p>
<p>^^Have him check out East Edge. It’s furnished, so no need for buying furniture. There is a shuttle from 7 a.m. until a little past 6 p.m., and it’s within walking distance to campus. Rooms may be opening up in the next ten days or so after renewals are due. Good luck!</p>
<p>^^^
Several of the off-campus apt complexes have buses that take kids to campus. </p>
<p>there are also a number of complexes around the stadium…within walking distance.</p>
<p>Yes, there are also several complexes around the stadium. My nephew lived at September Place, but it wasn’t furnished. 513 Rockport is one of the new complexes within walking distance, but they don’t include w/d.</p>
<p>I may be shooting myself in the foot here but just called East Edge to verify that we needed to be worrying about housing right now for next fall. The nice lady that answered said ‘absolutely’ - there is already a waiting list of 250…</p>
<p>Made me panic a bit so I called DS and said “okay, I am worrying but it is your housing situation so, can I bow out and leave it up to you now?” Am confident he won’t end up sleeping on a bench at UA but still worry. I want to have this fixed and everything in order! But I’ll do my very best to stay out of it now and just be there as $$$ might be needed! The dorms at UA have been great and, while more expensive then living off campus, did a lot to assuage worry for OOS parents.</p>
<p>Good luck all.</p>
<p>Yes, there is a constant parade of prospective residents touring at EE when I’m there visiting. I had heard there was a waiting list, but the number is due in part to having to hold rooms for current residents until their renewal deadline. I believe the count on the office window is at 9 days now. Once renewals are in, rooms will likely open up. When my daughter renewed hers, they told me they had tons of people completing applications and were only allowed to lease to a certain percentage of new residents until the renewal deadline passed.</p>
<p>You were smart to go ahead and call to verify the supply/demand now, The Student. It’s a convenient location from which to walk or ride the Crimson Ride bus to campus. It’s also convenient to Midtown Village and Target. Having furniture and appliances furnished is a plus, especially for OOS students. The amenities are an added bonus, and I like having the UAPD as a neighbor.</p>
<p>Thank you, Bamagirls. I appreciate the information you provide!</p>
<p>This is starting to worry me. DS is a current honors freshman living in Riverside. With AP credits, he will have rising junior standing at the end of this school year. Not sure if that matters, or if he will be considered rising sophomore for housing purposes. Anyway, if he does everything right, and registers immediately on Jan 2, is there still a real chance he will not get honors housing?</p>
<p>I think it’s always better to be safe than sorry. The earlier you explore off campus options, the easier and less stressful it to make an informed decision, especially on in the spring if he ends up needing or wanting to move off campus. If he ends up with the opportunity to remain on campus and so chooses, you’ll just be one step ahead for the next year or the year after. We started looking early whenever we visited so we had some idea what was out there. I’ve mentioned before that we did the same thing with scouting hotel rooms since online pics are often not truly representative of the current condition of the facility or the surrounding area. I’m a detail person, so I have to plan ahead to preserve my sanity…lol.:)</p>
<p>One other thing to consider is the lease length if you’re OOS. My nephew is from Tuscaloosa, so it wasn’t a problem for him, but I don’t think his lease was for 12 months. That might not work out so well for an OOS student since his complex wasn’t furnished and would have required a storage unit for his furniture if he hadn’t been able to move it back home. </p>
<p>The 12 month leases for off campus housing eliminate the need for storage and the issues OOS parents often face with on campus housing when most of the dorms are closed over Christmas holidays or spring break, etc. Check the lease options and differences between complexes while exploring off campus options.</p>
<p>Both on campus and off campus housing options have benefits and drawbacks to consider. Not having a car on campus will restrict your options, but it won’t make it impossible to find a good fit that will meet your student’s needs.</p>
<p>This is really scaring me too, one of the big draws of the school/honors program is the housing, if it really is likely to only be for a year that really does change the landscape. Especially without a car and needing to figure out an apartment when they barely have landed on campus as a freshman is not a great situation. I can see it for junior/senior year but not sophomore year. I am going to need to think about this more, ugh ugh ugh…</p>