Recontracting

<h1>As for a housing scholarship kid booking space in the dorms but living off campus, any student, Greek or Independent, could play that game, which would be an abuse that should not be allowed by UA.</h1>

<p>Oh I agree that it shouldn’t happen, but if a housing scholarship student has to live in the Greek house for a period because of holding an executive position or other req’d rule, then that student would likely consider booking a supersuite, put a few things in it, and live elsewhere during that req’d time. Why wouldn’t they try that? That’s not much different as when a kid has a dorm room, but is really spending nights with a significant other.</p>

<p>As for Bama “allowing it”, I don’t see how they can stop it. If they think a student is living on campus, they’re not going to be checking around at Greek Houses or private apts to see if they’re also staying there. Schools aren’t in people’s business like that.</p>

<p>I think Bama does have some kind of exceptions for students who are studying abroad. If they want to avoid scholarship students doing this, they should come up with a work-around for special circumstance like having to live in a greek house for a year (…not a semester).</p>

<p>^ I agree that it would be very difficult to police and that UA will not be able to stop it if a student is determined to do it. A work-around would be good, but it may be difficult to determine which “special circumstances” are worthy of an exception and which are not.</p>

<p>you would think that they would set aside rooms for all kids with housing scholarships. if a student ends up choosing to live off campus for part of that time, great! fill it with someone else. if the student is still eligible the next year, space should be available.</p>

<p>i am sure that a kid that went to live in a greek house for soph. year didn’t think that would be the end of her housing scholarship. of course, they realized that they would be foregoing it for that year, but i am pretty sure this wasn’t made clear to them (as evidenced by post #28).</p>

<p>if this was MY situation i would be pretty ticked off.</p>

<p>I think this underscores the importance of not moving out of Honors housing or any on campus housing for that matter without CAREFUL CONSIDERATION and communication with housing. Our D is moving off campus next year to an apartment. She is currently in Honors housing and not on a housing scholarship.</p>

<p>She has been very happy at RCS, but her major requires an additional semester to complete. In her case, both she and her roommate will need summer housing. After considering cost, an additional move to a different dorm during the summer, and the difficulty of finding suitable off campus housing for the summer, we decided to move her off campus next fall. We did our due diligence and talked with housing prior to making this choice. We signed the re-contracting agreement and before we signed a lease, we checked with housing. Once we signed the lease we cancelled housing. We understand this decision is firm and we didn’t make it lightly.</p>

<p>While I understand about a Greek student or any student with a housing scholarship or not wanting to make a change and have the opportunity to move back, I agree with random parent that I would also be greatly disappointed to see a student who moved to a Greek house for a while treated differently than any other student. These choices are difficult for all students and parents no matter why or where they choose to move. Such a decision requires much thought and consideration before they are made, especially if there is a financial consideration such as a housing scholarship. I don’t see this being much different than a student with an academic scholarship. You can’t accept it, leave, and return.</p>

<p>i am sure that a kid that went to live in a greek house for soph. year didn’t think that would be the end of her housing scholarship. of course, they realized that they would be foregoing it for that year, but i am pretty sure this wasn’t made clear to them (as evidenced by post #28).</p>

<p>=======</p>

<p>Mike…I think you’re misunderstanding…they wouldn’t be losing their housing scholarship. They can still use it, just not in honors. They can choose non-honors super suites or whatever.</p>

<p>“However, if they’ve already opted out of Honors community housing, they cannot go back to Honors, but they can live on campus again.”</p>

<p>Going to Lakeside East or Ridgecrest East or Ridgecrest S (s tower) isn’t the end of the world…it doesn’t “end their housing scholarship”.</p>

<p>i don’t think i am misunderstanding at all. </p>

<p>i understand completely not being able to return to honors housing. but the last several posts have been talking about not being able to get on campus housing at all once you go off campus.</p>

<p>example - my daughters friend. lived in tut for year 1. lived in greek house for hear 2. applied for housing for year 3 and was not able to recontract. <shrug></shrug></p>

<p>I could be wrong, but the way I understood it was if you moved out of honors (for any reason, off campus or other, scholarship or not) you could not move back into honors housing. I took what UA Housing was saying to mean perhaps you wouldn’t be guaranteed to get back on campus if you were on housing scholarship and moved off campus (which would include to a Greek house). I took it as a caution from housing which I would think would be fair. I’m not wanting to step on anyone’s toes, but if the housing scholarship is that important to a student financially, I think they should investigate this in depth before moving out of the dorms for any reason. I understand the desire to test the waters whether Greek or non Greek, but I would think both would possibly be at risk if they tried to return to campus. I don’t see how it is really different from moving to an apartment for a nonGreek student. There is only so much planning Housing can do.</p>

<p>this doesn’t effect ME personally. but i am quite sure that the girl in question (my daughters friend) didn’t think that by living in the sorority house for one year that she was effectively giving up her housing scholarship forever. if she had known that, she may not have opted to live in the house when she did.</p>

<p>one thing that might ease some of the problem would be not requiring freshman to live on campus. i am sure not all freshman want to. but i do not know if lifting this requirement would leave them with empty rooms/beds. they, for sure, don’t want that.</p>

<p>I understand and I’m glad it wasn’t your D. Our D has enjoyed RCS and other than the fact she would have to move to another dorm for the required summer session, we probably wouldn’t have looked into an apartment. The location of the apartment will be more convenient for her from the standpoint there isn’t student parking at the nursing building and this way she can walk. She could take the bus for the one class she had there this year, but going multiple times a day would be difficult. An added bonus is it is cheaper than RCS even without considering the additional dorm cost during the summer. Hopefully it will work out as well as we hope.</p>

<p>I’m keeping an open ear to this because I have a friend whose daughter is coming in to Bama next year as a freshman. She will likely rush. Her mom would about have a fit if she lost her housing scholarship if she moved into the house. But knowing girls, I’m sure she’ll want to. I’ll advise my friend that she contacts housing to find out the exact requirements before she allows her daughter to move into the house, which I’m guessing wouldn’t be any sooner than sophomore year.</p>

<p>Contrary to popular belief, kids on housing scholarship do move off campus. This does not apply to us, as we depend on that housing scholarship. But there are many families from my state whose kids are on housing scholarship that opted to move to the newest apartment complex every year, or have moved into the sorority or fraternity house. So there has to be some rule in place to answer any questions these families may have if they wanted their child to move back to campus for whatever reason (ie, safety, financial issues). I’m guessing they would be able to move back to campus with their scholarship, but just would not be in honors housing.</p>

<p>MikeW quote: i don’t think i am misunderstanding at all. </p>

<p>i understand completely not being able to return to honors housing. but the last several posts have been talking about not being able to get on campus housing at all once you go off campus.</p>

<h1>example - my daughters friend. lived in tut for year 1. lived in greek house for hear 2. applied for housing for year 3 and was not able to recontract. <shrug></shrug></h1>

<p>Is this a NMF student? If so, then she should have been able to get back onto campus. If it’s not a NMF student, then going off campus is a permenent thing.</p>

<p>If she is a NMF, she needs to contact Housing to get her issue fixed. She may have been trying to get into honors and was dened…and assumed she was denied for all. Are you getting this story second hand?</p>

<p>From UA Housing’s post: “But the issue raised by Randomparent is whether students with housing scholarships can return. YES! Students with housing scholarships are allowed to return to on-campus housing. However, if they’ve already opted out of Honors community housing, they cannot go back to Honors, but they can live on campus again.”</p>

<p>So, if your D’s friend has a housing scholarship, she needs to contact UA Housing.</p>

<p>Are you sure she’s a NMF if she was in Tut frosh year???</p>

<p>I’ve always been confused by the stipulation that one cannot move back into honors housing. Why not have more honors housing? The argument that non-honors students would be able to recontract into their previous housing, thus making converting an existing residence hall into an honors residence hall false as students who lived in Rose Towers during the 2010-2011 academic year were not allowed to recontract for the 2011-2012 academic year as Rose Towers was converted into freshman-only housing.</p>

<p>As a word of advice for those with housing scholarships who are considering/needing to live off campus for a year, get written confirmation that you will get on-campus housing for future years should you decide to move back on campus.</p>

<p>Also, it’s too bad that housing scholarships aren’t transferrable as I and many other students would love to receive a discount on on-campus housing costs, especially since housing rates are going up 8.64% ($700 per year).</p>

<p>I am not sure she is NMF. I am sure she had a housing scholarship. Is that the only way to have one?</p>

<p>Very few ways to have a housing scholarship…NMF, NA (for black students), and a few others (like Crimson Alumni (rarely for OOS) or UFE Academic Elite).</p>

<p>If she has a housing scholarship (specified FOR housing only), then she should contact Bama Housing. If she really doesn’t have a housing scholarship, then it is what it is.</p>

<p>Why are you sure that she has a housing scholarship? Could it be that she has additional scholarships that she’s just applying to housing? Find out exactly what she has and who funds it.</p>

<p>Kids really do need to check all bases before making moves/decisions and not just assume that there won’t be any negative ramifications…kids often assume and then they get bit. I remember one time when my son private tutored a student who said that she had some kind of URM scholarship that would pay for the tutoring. My son tutored her everyday for 2 weeks. When it came time to be paid, she found out that not only could she not just choose her own tutor, but the scholarship would only cover “once a week” tutoring, not everyday. My son ended up not getting paid, but it was a “life lesson” for him to make sure everything is in writing, see the details of payment, etc. The student was very embarrassed, but it never dawned on her to check the details to make sure that her tutor would get paid. (I wasn’t aware of this arrangement until after the problem surfaced.)</p>

<p>i will check with her and see.</p>

<p>i did some fact checking. i am not confused at all.</p>

<p>the student i am talking about IS an NMF and did not get to contract ANY dorm housing for next year. honors or not.</p>

<p>Mike…sounds like she needs to contact a “higher up person” in Housing. If she’s a NMF, she should not have been denied an opp to recontract if her attempt was made during the appropriate time schedule…assuming that the attempt was made during the recontracting time and not too late.</p>

<p>Or, perhaps the UA Housing person on this board can help…maybe you could PM that student’s name to her.</p>

<p>^ I don’t think UAhousing can help. From an earlier UAhousing post:
"Housing scholarship students will be allowed to live on campus multiple years. Once they move off campus it is very hard for us to accommodate moving back to on-campus housing.</p>

<p>If your student has a housing scholarship that is important to your family financially, I would not consider a move off campus."</p>

<p>UAHousing also posted that NMFs could return, but they won’t get into honors…</p>

<p>QUOTE:</p>

<p>YES! Students with housing scholarships are allowed to return to on-campus housing. However, if they’ve already opted out of Honors community housing, they cannot go back to Honors, but they can live on campus again.</p>

<p>^The quote I provided was in a post from UAhousing attempting to clarify the statement you quoted. The statement you quoted was in response to a question I asked that had nothing to do with off-campus housing.</p>