Recontracting

<p>Yikes, ahpimommy!</p>

<p>I’m sorry, I didn’t quite understand if you think an exception should be made only for Greek living or other scenarios…</p>

<p>In reference to Vlines study abroad: If a student studies abroad it is for academic reasons and the student is eligible to receive housing upon returning assuming deadlines are met. Their room is not held and they have no priority to re-contract the room they once occupied. That is the extent of my knowledge of study abroad. Obviously, these students cannot live on campus while out of the country for academic (not social) reasons.</p>

<p>sorry…husband was hustling me out of the door to go to the Cirque du Soleil Michale Jackson concert…and I omitted the word “not” that should go in a crucial place. I do NOT believe that Greeks should get exclusivity …I think that there needs to be a definite policy in place that addresses a variety of scenarios including what happens if a Greek student has a housing scholarship, moves off for 1 year and then wants to move back on or if a student wants to try an apartment and then wants to move back. Since we don’t do scholarships at our house (I just hate to take $$$ away from students who need it when we can pay) am I missing something? In the case of Mike’s daughter’s friend I feel awful for that girl…I don’t know…I agree that to just keep a room empty doesn’t seem like a good idea either . If I were a parent with a child in this position I would be very frustrated. so sorry for the “oops”…I blame the man of the house!</p>

<p>lol…hope you had a good time. That is exactly what I think too.</p>

<p>I think MikeWozowski’s earlier suggestion is the most workable idea for a solution. If a housing scholarship student wants to live off-campus, let them, and then provide space for them if they want to live on-campus in a following semester, regardless of their reason wanting to live off-campus. Given the costs, I can’t imagine a lot of housing scholarship students ever elect to live off-campus, so it shouldn’t be that hard for Bama Housing to plan around.</p>

<p>I could easily accept that as a compromise.</p>

<p>me too :)…</p>

<p>thanks! i always have the best ideas! : ) didn’t you all know that???</p>

<p>i don’t think that this would be a huge number of kids for bama to have to plan for/deal with. </p>

<p>it has been mentioned that housing scholarship kids would like to use the scholarship to live off campus. while i am in the camp of “it is their scholarship and they can have whatever rules that want to for using it”, they <em>could</em> allow it (or maybe give students half the cost of honors housing) to be used off campus. i mean, why not, they could pay out 4k but then take in the full cost of the dorm room that they would have been providing otherwise. UA comes out ahead, and that 4k could go a long way toward paying for an off campus place.</p>

<p>idk if they actually had room for all the freshman “who are required to live on campus” this year or not. i think they ended up not having room for all freshmen when my daughter started. if this continues to be a problem, then allowing the housing scholarship to be used off campus could help alleviate some of the pressure.</p>

<p>Okay…so every time I see your post all I can think about is an exchange between a character with the same name and another character named “Roz” in one of my children’s favorite childhood movies, Monsters, Inc.</p>

<p>“I’ll be watching you Mike Wozowski, always watching you.” </p>

<p>Now you want me to replace that with your having the best ideas?..okay, I’ll buy it.</p>

<p>“If a housing scholarship student wants to live off-campus, let them, and then provide space for them if they want to live on-campus in a following semester, regardless of their reason wanting to live off-campus”</p>

<hr>

<p>I think that if that’s the policy, then the student should provide something in writing to the school about future intent…such as, “I will be off-campus for one year”…so the school knows whether to save space…or not. Then, at least, the school would know if it could allow a rising senior to use that space…graduate…and then the space is available again.</p>

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<p>I don’t think Bama is going to let NMFs use their housing for off-campus…even at half the price. These Super Suites dorms are going up, partly to accomodate them. The school really wants these kids on campus…not elsewhere. Statistically, they’re a calming presence and good role models. Plus, the goal is to become more of a residential campus.</p>

<p>i don’t necessarily subscribe to the idea that the housing scholarship should be able to be used off campus, but the topic does come up periodically.</p>

<p>how many students do they want to live on campus, ideally? part of the reason that kids want/need to move off campus is that it is cheaper. building more new dorms won’t change that.</p>

<p>I don’t necessarily believe the scholarship should be allowed to be used off campus either, and I do believe it is a good thing for freshmen to live on campus for the first year. Having said that, I wouldn’t oppose it either. My main point is not to have different rules for Greek/non-Greeks. There are legitimate concerns and reasons for both.</p>

<p>Our oldest is not NMF and doesn’t have the housing scholarship, but the next two are already within range for it as sophomore and freshman. I certainly wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to use it off campus if that became available. The dorms are wonderful, but off campus is cheaper and sometimes more convenient for certain situations.</p>

<p>As for giving housing the heads up that you want to return, if you have been off campus, why not send out an email like they sent to our kids in October, to indicate that you will or will not be returning to campus? They would just need to add the names of all students with housing scholarships to their master list when they send out the email to students currently living on campus. As they do every year, they would indicate to the students wishing to return if they have room for them or not. They should give housing scholarships “first dibs” on rooms, as they do for those currently on campus and returning, and would only have to add the scholarship kids who lived off campus but want to return, to their “first dibs” list. Then, as indicated above, returning seniors, then juniors, then sophomores, would get available spaces that aren’t reserved for incoming freshmen. </p>

<p>I don’t know what Auburn does now or did before. They seemed to discourage students from living on campus, but I don’t know what they do for students who have a housing scholarship, but choose to live off campus.</p>

<p>Son had received a scholarship from one university that indicated a portion of it was toward on campus housing. If son chose to attend that university and live off campus, he would not get that amount of scholarship. His tuition scholarship was not affected, however. It was not a full housing scholarship, though, but it was a nice chunk of change, a couple of thousand, that made one think twice about moving off campus.</p>

<p>I don’t know what Auburn does now or did before. They seemed to discourage students from living on campus, but I don’t know what they do for students who have a housing scholarship, but choose to live off campus.</p>

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<p>Because Auburn’s housing situation is much more dire than Bama’s, NMFs do not have housing on campus all 4 years. They move off campus and they get some money for that. I think about $4k per year. However, if they build more dorms, that may change.</p>