Religious/Political Tolerance and Diversity?

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
21

Vegetarian is pretty easy to find…vegan means no dairy products, no eggs. She has a hard time eating out in the South, in general (I am from NC so we go pretty frequently). Most vegetables are buttered and it’s difficult to find Italian items that are not lathered in cheese. One place we went she couldn’t even eat the rolls because it had butter painted on the top. If it was a visit I wouldn’t worry, but to LIVE somewhere you have to hoard food because you aren’t sure there will be any at the next meal, well…

She called me crying when she was stuck at UNC-C because someone had stolen her coconut ice cream out of the dorm freezer and she literally had nothing else to eat.

22

No Fried Friday? UA students might revolt!

Well, looks like UA may not be the best choice for your daughter. Good luck with your search!

23

^LOL

24

Honestly, anyone who has very unusual dietary needs or habits is going to have a challenging time eating at a cafeteria or even at most restaurants.

I was a vegetarian for 6 years in the 90s, my mom (who lives with us and has Alzheimer’s, so I’m responsible for her diet) is gluten-free (although not allergic), and I have a very unusual (and severe) allergy (poultry, including trace amounts of chicken broth), so I’m not unfamiliar with or unsympathetic to dealing with dietary restrictions.

With my severe allergy, I’ve simply learned to never order certain categories of foods, not eat out where the staff aren’t completely fluent in English, and I always keep antihistamines and an EpiPen handy . . . Most restaurants have chicken in over half their dishes. Sucks for me, lol.

For a vegan or someone with other severe food restrictions, I think that realistically, they’ll need to be comfortable finding alternate food sources, always keeping their own stash of food available, etc. For my mom, I always bring snacks, crackers, energy bars, etc when we are going places that might have finger foods out.

So, anyway, if my kid were allergic or had a health requirement that led them to have a very restrictive diet, then I’d help them negotiate with the administration to get out of required meal plans and help them get in housing where they could cook for themselves – to ensure their health and safety. (Might even be fine in a suite if on the same floor as the dorm kitchen . . . and maybe have their own small fridge in their own room in addition to the communal fridge.)

But, if my kid were simply living a lifestyle preference (as I did while a vegetarian), then I’d be sympathetic, ship them snack foods, make tofu-turkeys at holidays . . . but not really get bent out of shape about their lack of choices and options. It is a simple reality that they’ll have very limited options - - - because they choose to take many/most options off the table. So be it. They won’t starve. They’ll be dealing with this lack of options on and on. That’s OK, as it is just the adult consequence of the adult choice they’ve made about what to eat. They’re dealing with it every time they go out to eat or get pizza with friends, etc. I’m sure they’re not too bent out of shape about it. (I know I wasn’t when I was a vegetarian. I just ate the bread, the salad bar, and baked potatoes. A lot! There weren’t many vegetarian options at restaurants in the 90s, lol.)

25

@redpoodles, no doubt, the dining service at Bama is not one of its strengths (although it seems to be slowly improving), but how much are you willing to pay for that great food at Bates?

We visited a lot of beautiful SLACs with our son during his college search, and a few of them had AMAZING meal options, but these schools would have cost our family anywhere from 2 to 3 times what Bama is costing us. I don’t know what the COA is for the schools your daughter is attending, but it’s possible you could ship your daughter a lot of nice food to store in a suite with a full kitchen at Bama and still save money over a pricey private school. And most UA students move off campus after freshman year anyway, so we’re really only talking about one year she’d have to worry about.

Best of luck to your DD whatever she decides!

26

She has not been accepted to Bates yet, I just used it as an example because it was an easy link. She did apply, we did visit, and the food was really good. We’ll weigh all options when they come in at the end of next month. Good point about living off campus, thanks!

Do most UA students really move off campus sophomore year? That surprises me.

27

Most students do move off-campus sophomore year. Off-campus housing is relatively nice and plentiful. It’s also a heck of a lot cheaper than the dorms and has a kitchen which sounds like a pro for you.

28

If the student qualifies for need-based financial aid Bates is likely to be a better deal. According to the Project on Student Debt, in 2013 the average debt upon graduation at UA was $28,508. At Bates it was $22,534.
http://projectonstudentdebt.org/state_by_state-data.php

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^Avg. debt upon graduation is not the best method of comparison among schools with very different student bodies,

One thing I noticed with the Bates vegan menu was that it included a lot of items which, while technically vegan, could be served at other stations. UA tends not to sort its menu this way and also includes items which don’t sound vegan, but are ie a vegan chicken taco.

It’s very common for college students to move off campus after their first year. Students want more freedom, especially when it comes to staying in town over the summer, choosing roommates, and payment plans. Many students save money by living off campus.

30

Am I missing something? How is a chicken taco vegan?
Having been to the Bates dining hall I also know it offers a lot of things not on the Bates menu. For instance I know that the school has a full supply of fresh fruits, yoghurt (yes, I know it’s not usually vegan) and other on-the-go food the kids can grab at any time, as well as an extensive salad bar. My kid’s a meat eater so I didn’t look for vegetarian/vegan options but I’ve eaten from the vegan bar and the food was excellent. There was a vegan squash dish served at the parent’s weekend dinner that was so good I asked for the recipe. My son’s friend is lactose intolerant and was please to find that Bates serves rice milk from the case next to the cow’s milk.

The staff who plan and cook the menu at Bates are also the ones who serve it so they get to see what the kids like and the kids can give them direct feedback. Unlike a school with an outside dining service (UA uses Aramark) a school with an in-house dining service may have more flexibility.

Don’t want to turn this into a pissing contest. You want to talk weather? UA has Bates beaten hands down this winter. But in this one measure I think Bates has the advantage.
This is an old article but it shows how seriously, and for how long, Bates has considered its vegetarian and vegan options.
http://www.bates.edu/news/2003/03/14/vegetarian-chef-visits/

31

Weather: definitely UA has the better deal! To be fair, Bates is one of the best options for vegans we saw on our tour, but in general the New England LACs have very, very good food. I dreamed about going back for dinner the next day a few times after eating it. U Mass - Amherst also had very good food-- just as tasty as Bates and even more selection, so it is certainly possible to do this at a large state university. I was just hoping UA had followed suit in this regard. I did not mean to make it into a UA vs Bates-- they really are incomparable. I was just trying to show the options that COULD be available for people with special diets. That said, we sat next to someone from the midwest who didn’t like the LAC food at all. She wanted meatloaf and mashed potatoes and there was some kind of fancy quinoa salad and grilled chicken with a mango salsa. The only thing that girl ate off her plate was the dessert. To each her own, and tastes are certainly regional. There was one school nearby where my D could not find a single thing to eat in the cafeteria other than banana, apple, or orange. They didn’t have a salad bar and the premade salads were sprinkled with cheese and croutons. It’s just something we need to investigate but for the vast majority of people any cafeteria will be adequate.

PS the vegan chicken taco is probably made with soy instead of chicken. They just call it vegan chicken so you can know what they are trying to approximate.

32

@Sue22‌, I thought I tried to make it clear it will depend on the COA for any given family at any given school. For example, the “average debt upon graduation” really isn’t relevant for a UA student attending on scholarship. In our case, we qualified for need-based financial aid at schools like Bates, but it still would have cost us anywhere from two to three times what Bama is costing us, because our son was awarded a full scholarship plus $2500/year to study engineering each year for four years. The NPC’s of the better privates ranged from $25,000 - $45,000 for our family, and our state flagship was a little over $30,000 for his freshman year, and that number likely would have risen each and every year. Bama will cost us less than $15,000/year. That frees up a lot of money for other things, be they an apartment with a full kitchen or high-quality groceries.

A student like @redpoodles‌’ daughter, who is competitive for NESCAC schools, is likely eligible for some big scholarships at Bama too.

And I think a “vegan chicken taco” is faux chicken, most likely made from soy beans, along the lines of Tofurkey. I have a kid who is vegetarian (not vegan) and we buy a lot of that “faux chicken.”

@redpoodles, FWIW, my Bama son, while not a vegetarian or a vegan, is quite health conscious, and he told me the dining service has made a real effort to improve its offerings this semester, I gather in response to student demand.

And if your daughter is open to schools in the Midwest, Macalester had tremendous dining options. Lots of vegans there!

33

OP, students at most state universities move off campus after 1 or 2 years on campus. State schools usually don’t have enough housing for all their students even if they wanted it.

34

^^^It’s also frequently cheaper to live off campus, specifically because on-campus students are usually required to buy pricey dining plans.

35

Two years on campus then an apartment seems standard to me–one year surprises me.

FWIW, she has the Presidential at Bama, but also has the Chancellor’s at UMassBoston, which would be free since she’d live at home (they don’t have dorms at all). But she hasn’t decided anything yet. The LAC-type school fits her best personality wise if price were not a concern. But it is…

36

And thanks everyone for your feedback

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Let the whole thing play out, @redpoodles‌, and see what her options are when everything FA-wise is on the table. My son had really wanted a LAC too until very late in the process when he realized he liked the flexibility a larger school would offer socially and in terms of majors. And check out the Blount Initiative at UA. It may be able to offer your daughter that smaller college experience she desires. My son is in engineering, but he lives in Blount Hall and just loves it.

38

The vegan chicken taco is a soy-based food product.

While there are some students who would be better off living with their parents during college, it’s not the same as living on campus or living in an off-campus apartment. College is about more than just attending classes and taking tests.