No cafeterias in the dorms

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Arizona
1

My son is a junior and U of A is his top choice at the moment. We visited last month and really liked it. But the one thing that I’m having trouble with is the dorms not having cafeterias. It seems really weird to me that they have to go out somewhere to eat all the time. Obviously it’s not a huge thing because thousands of students do it every year, but it just seems really odd to me. Am I the only one who thinks this?

2

Do they have kitchens available to them?

3

IMO, it makes the dorms more secure to not have dining halls in the same building.

It’s too easy for people who don’t belong in the dorm to get upstairs if there are unlocked common areas.

2 Likes
4

Yes, there are kitchens. And I’m not that concerned about the security.

5

I don’t recall ever seeing a cafeteria in a dorm at any college we visited or back in the day. I don’t think its odd. I saw one college where the dorms did not have laundry facilities because they were in a separate stand alone building which I thought was really strange and a pain in the neck.

6

Interesting. Every other college I’ve been to or toured has cafeterias in the dorms, or connected to them, like three dorms sharing a central cafeteria.

Having laundry facilities elsewhere would be a deal-breaker for me. That seems so incredibly inconvenient.

7

Not odd at all. I wouldn’t worry unless it is far away from the residence hall or the main part of campus. Having it separate makes going to eat a destination. It is easier to renovate and update free standing cafeteria facilities than those in individual dorms. Also some colleges allow multiple ways to use the meal plan such as cafeterias, restaurants, etc I think more colleges are trying to have separate buildings as they can have a free standing building that serves multiple residence buildings

8

We’ve not seen a college with cafeterias in the dorms. My daughter likes the idea of the cafeterias being places to meet more people- I feel like if it’s attached to a dorm it’s the same people you’d already meet. It’s also not like U of A will have bad winter weather to trek through.