<p>Kari got “waitlisted” not denied – however since she live in Ridgecrest Honors, the odds of her getting housing there for next year is next to nil since so many freshmen are placed there. </p>
<p>Would have been a lot easier to find apartment / rental housing for next fall if Bama could’ve let students know they were waitlisted a few months earlier (esp as they knew how many returning students wanted on campus housing again since last October). Trying to find housing now with it already being Feb is going to be harder to do.</p>
<p>I’ve read through this thread, so let me know if I understand correctly. My S is a HS junior right now and he scored high enough to easily qualify for NMSF and probably will be NMF. We’ve been looking at U of Alabama seriously because of the great scholarship package available to NMF’s, which includes campus housing.</p>
<p>Are there freshman there under the same scholarship that aren’t getting housing for their sophomore year and are going to have to find off campus housing and pay for it next year?</p>
<p>Students with housing scholarships are not waitlisted. The website says the same thing for Honors students. Not really sure what is gong on…but trying to find out!! Has never been a problem in the past which leads me to believe this is some type of glitch. One parent is going down there today and talk with housing…will keep you posted. We didn’t have a housing scholarship but had others and we are in Honors.</p>
<p>So, what you are saying is that some honors kids couldn’t stay in the same dorm sophomore year and they contracted on time? Not a deal breaker for us, with the bluffs and retreat in the mix, but good to know(and earlier if possible). I wonder if they had an increase in honors applications and acceptances this year, combined with the razing of some dorms made space at a premium. Wonder if there will be new dorms ready for 2012</p>
<p>But for these places do you have to rent for 12 months, so over the summer? The summer prior or summer after? Unfortunately I am used to this with my older D as it is the norm at some colleges where they can’t get a sublet for the summer.</p>
<p>I am sure S will want to have his car for sophomore year anyway dorm or no dorm. Is parking on issue? I thought I read that they were building additional lots. I know some of the offcampus apartments are on the shuttle.</p>
<p>Hello all…been reading this forum for several months. What a great group here! The information has been very helpful. It appears (95% sure)that my S will be heading to Bama as a Freshman in the fall, Honors and Presidential(Thank you son!) and we are trying to stay ahead of the learning curve on all topics including housing. I sent a note to our regional recruiter here in Dallas and she in turn checked in with the housing office and got this repsonse…</p>
<p>Here is the response from Housing:</p>
<p>Subject: returners’ recontracting process</p>
<p>Hello. Yesterday was the deadline for our current residents to recontract for campus housing for next year. We have held spaces for returners who have housing scholarships or are participating in living-learning communities (including Honors Housing). Based on that reserved space, we will need to waitlist a number of (Approximately 500) returning students. The waitlisted students are all currently grad students, seniors, juniors or sophomores. We will not be waitlisting any current freshmen (rising sophomores), Im pleased to say. All students will be notified this afternoon whether they have been waitlisted or can complete the recontracting process.</p>
<p>We anticipated that we would have to waitlist some students, and our communication to returners since the fall, when the housing application went live, was that this was a real possibility. To assist students with looking for off-campus housing, Julie Elmore has already sponsored three off-campus housing fairs this year and has another one planned on February 16. We have also held several programs in the residence halls about finding off-campus housing.</p>
<p>Students who are not waitlisted will now be able to complete the recontracting process by paying their deposit and signing the contract. Since we know from past experience that not all students who submitted the initial application will actually pay the deposit, we have a second week built into the process this year, during which we hope to remove some students from the waiting list and allow them to complete the recontracting process.</p>
<p><strong><em>We have held spaces for returners who have housing scholarships or are participating in living-learning communities (including Honors Housing).</em></strong></p>
<p>This part of the housing message seems inconsistent with what has happened to Mom of 4’s daughter.</p>
<p>^^^if that’s the case then I’d call housing ASAP. If they wouldn’t look at sophomore status to downgrade meal plans, and kept using the phrase “first year student” then I’d think they’d have to use the same mindset when it comes to housing. “First year students” should be kept off the waitlist, whether they are freshmen, sophomores, etc. Sounds like an odd glitch to me. </p>
<p>ok, I’m echoing mike. Do you think some of the freshman are getting waitlisted because they now show up as “sophomore” status due to having ap credit, etc in high school ( I know Kari was listed as a sophomore as of this second semester)</p>
<p>ok, just talked to houing and got told the reason why Kari is waitlisted is because she is a sophomore (even though Kari is a freshman with sophomore status because of AP classes, etc taken in high school). When I said she just graduated from high school this past June and should really be considered a freshman in terms of housing, they said they’re not sure anything can be done because Kari is listed as a sophomore in their records. . . .seems like our honors kids are getting penalized.</p>
<p>mom of four: if I were you, I would use the argument that was used by Bama Dining to avoid the meal plan downgrade by saying that you’ve heard that even if students have sophomore or greater status, that they are still considered “first year students.” </p>
<p>I wonder if this is one of those bureaucratic things that the Honors College is unaware of. Perhaps a call to Jami Gates or Dr. Sharpe might be helpful?</p>
<p>Has anyone heard that The Retreat is in financial trouble and is possibly being sold to avoid bankruptcy? The kids were telling me that they had friends who had gotten a letter concerning this and they thought if it was not bought and refinanced that it would proceed to foreclosure and that those who had contracted might be forced to look for accommodations else where? Not sure if it’s true but would warrant looking into before contracting. We signed a lease in October with Sterling Crimson.</p>
<p>The response from housing seems to confirm what I’ve been told previously in that if one is currently in honors housing, they should be able to recontract. The 500 were waitlisted should have been those not currently living in a living learning community. </p>
<p>If UA knew that there was going to be such housing shortage of con-campus housing, they should have announced it much earlier than they did.</p>
<p>I’ve said it before, but I think it would be very easy to move some or all of the remaining offices in Russell Hall to other buildings and convert the existing rooms to suite-style (two people sharing one bedroom and a bathroom). Assuming UA could get the permits relatively quickly, the building could have minor renovations, use the furniture from the dorms being demolished, and could be open by the end of July.</p>
<p>Overall, I am disappointed that so many people had to be waitlisted and trust that a solution will be worked out that satisfies as many families as possible.</p>
<p>It is my understanding that Honors housing is protected…meaning you can recontract if you are currently living there… It pretty much states this on the Housing website and in an article in the Crimson White on 1/25/11. This is from the article 1/25 per housing…</p>
<p>“Nail and Elmore both emphasized for students to take the first step and re-contract by Feb. 1. Students who do not make the cut will be waitlisted; however students who receive housing scholarships will never be waitlisted. Students who will be participating in a living-learning community, such as Blount, Friedman, and the International Living-Learning Community are also protected from being waitlisted. Current honors residents are included in this category.” </p>
<p>From the housing website:This from the housing website:</p>
<p>Honors College</p>
<p>The Honors College living option in Riverside West, Lakeside West, Ridgecrest North and Ridgecrest West is available to members of the University Honors Program, International Honors Program, and/or Computer-Based Honors Program. These coed living-learning facilities form the center of the University’s tightly-knit honors community. Because of the demand for Honors Housing, only incoming Honors College freshmen and current residents of Honors Housing can be accommodated. Space does not permit Honors College participants living in other residence halls to move to Honors Housing. For more information, please visit honors.ua.edu.</p>